For Holan, It’s a Happy One-Year Anniversary

Milos Holan’s life-saving bone marrow transplant--his new marrow the gift of an anonymous donor--was one year ago.

On Friday, a bouquet of flowers and balloons arrived at the former Mighty Duck defenseman’s home in Orange, along with a note.

“It said, ‘Happy first anniversary--Your donor,’ ” Holan said. “I’m very excited. I want to talk to him, and thank him for everything he did for me.”

Though he has yet to reach him by telephone, Holan, 25, has learned that his donor is a 32-year-old man from Maryland and believes he is of Polish or other Eastern European descent--probably one reason he and Holan, a Czech, had the genetic similarities that produced a marrow match.

The National Marrow Donor Program keeps the identity of donors and their recipients confidential for one year in a policy designed to protect the privacy of both and to prevent emotional stress during the difficult first year after a transplant--a year many patients don’t survive.

A few weeks ago, Holan filled out paperwork giving the organization permission to tell his donor who he was, and his donor did the same. Holan received his donor’s name and number this week and has been trying to reach him by phone.

“I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” said Holan, who was found to have a slow-progressing but virulent form of leukemia during a training camp physical in 1995. His search for a compatible donor lasted four months before the National Marrow Donor Program’s registry of more than 2 million volunteers produced one. On Feb. 21, 1996, he underwent the dangerous but potentially life-saving procedure.

“I knew some people in the hospital who had the same thing as me, and they passed away. I was the lucky one,” said Holan, who is in remission but recently spent 10 days in the hospital because of pneumonia, an effect of a weakened immune system.

“I’m very glad that I had a donor, that they found someone, because a lot of people don’t ever have one,” Holan said. “We’ll see what happens when I talk to him, but me and my wife really want to meet my donor and bring him out here so they can enjoy Disneyland or something.”