Shearers Team Up Against Toughest Foe

Dennis Shearer and his wife, Paula Getty-Shearer, are dealing with a life-and-death situation the same way they coach the girls’ basketball team at Louisville High, without the slightest hint of backing down.

Accustomed to fashioning upsets with overachieving squads, the couple talks confidently of beating the odds against their most daunting opponent: leukemia.

Dennis entered UCLA Medical Center this week in preparation for a bone-marrow transplant Tuesday for which doctors give him only a one-in-three chance of surviving.

Paula believes his chances are much better than that.

“We’re talking about beating this thing like we’re going to pull off an upset,” she said. “I just feel like we’re going to do it.”

Likewise, Dennis has not wavered in his faith.

“I like to think I have a good chance because I’m in fairly good physical health, I think I’m in good mental health, I think I’m dealing with it OK and I’ve had great support,” said Dennis, 52, who serves as assistant coach to Paula, 33.

Mr. and Mrs. Coach

The Chatsworth residents known at Louisville as “Mr. and Mrs. Coach” have supported each other throughout the ordeal--outgoing Paula offering words of encouragement and soft-spoken Dennis bracing for the fight of his life with quiet determination.

Paula approached friends and family with news of Dennis’ worsening condition, allowing her husband time to become more comfortable talking about it.

“I’m a shy person in general,” Dennis said. “I’m not very good at talking about myself, [but] I do think that it’s something my friends need to know.”

The Shearers have prepared for the worst, arranging for a burial plot in Idaho next to Dennis’ deceased father and putting his living trust in order, but they remain optimistic.

The couple celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary last summer by vacationing in Hawaii and at Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming, trying to squeeze in as many activities while Dennis was still able to travel.

“Every day I get up and thank God that I am here and that he is with me,” said Paula, a former All-Southern Section player at Royal High.

Dennis hopes to remain by her side for a long time.

His goal is to be on the bench for Louisville’s season opener Dec. 3 in the Fillmore tournament.

“You’re not going to keep me off it,” Shearer said to his wife while sitting in the couple’s living room last week. “I plan on being back coaching next season. I’m just looking forward to being able to get back working with the girls again and being a part of the team. That’s a very important motivational factor for me.”

Basketball has always been important to Shearer, a former Seattle prep standout who met Paula during a pickup game in 1990. He reluctantly gave up playing with friends last month because of pain in his upper torso.

As his condition worsened in recent weeks, Shearer has battled sleeplessness, fatigue and discomfort. Yet he has managed to stay active by playing par-three golf, cycling and lifting light weights. Food has lost its appeal, but he forces down three meals a day to help maintain weight and strength.

“Everyone thinks their lives are so hard and then you look at him and how he’s dealing with everything,” said Melissa Hearlihy, girls’ basketball coach at rival Alemany. “He’s a fighter and a great role model for the kids, and these are lessons that go far beyond the basketball court.”

The Challenge

Shearer doesn’t see anything particularly noble about the way he is coping with a life-threatening disease. He says he’s only doing what most people would in his situation.

“I’ve never thought, ‘Why me?’ ” he said. “This is a challenge you have to take, whether you want to or not.”

Shearer has lost 14 pounds since he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia more than a year ago. Troubled by fatigue, he visited his doctor on Jan. 22, 1997--his 51st birthday--and was told his white-blood-cell count was more than 20 times the normal level.

The disease remained in the chronic stage until it was detected to have advanced to the accelerated stage following a bone marrow test on March 19.

Before that, doctors prescribed daily shots of interferon, a protein with anti-viral and anti-cancer qualities, in an effort to force the leukemia into remission.

Shearer’s only hope for survival is a bone-marrow transplant.

Dr. Gary Schiller, an associate professor of medicine and hematology/oncology at UCLA Medical Center, said Shearer has a “25 to 35%” chance of surviving a bone-marrow transplant, even though the donor--Shearer’s brother Rick--is considered a perfect match.

Schiller said Shearer’s age and other risk factors present potential problems. For instance, Shearer’s system could reject his brother’s bone marrow, or the bone marrow itself might not accept Shearer and kill him.

There is always a chance the leukemia could return.

“The tricky part is getting them through the whole procedure,” Schiller said. “The first three months are critical. We like to keep a close eye on [patients] for two years. If [the leukemia] doesn’t come back after that, it probably won’t.”

Shearer is well aware he faces a long and arduous medical procedure.

“We’re going to prepare for the worst, but we’re going in believing that the best is going to happen,” he said.

Shearer began receiving heavy doses of radiation and chemotherapy Wednesday to destroy his cancerous bone marrow. The sessions will greatly weaken his immune system, making it imperative that the transplant be performed promptly.

“Were you not to give new bone marrow, the patient would die from infection or bleeding,” Schiller said.

After the transplant, Shearer will require antibiotics and frequent transfusions while the bone marrow is growing in his body.

The procedure isn’t easy for the donor, either. About a quart of Rick Shearer’s bone marrow will be extracted through approximately 200 punctures in his hipbone, Schiller said. An average adult has about 10 quarts of bone marrow.

For Rick, 48, it’s a small price to pay to possibly save his brother’s life.

“I guess I’m the guy but I feel good about it,” said Rick, who arrived from Idaho last week. “I’m glad I can be here to help.”

Schiller said blood tests have shown Rick’s bone marrow has some anti-cancer activity, indicating it is capable of killing any residual cancer cells in Dennis after radiation and chemotherapy.

There is a history of cancer in the Shearer family. Dennis’ father, George, died of bone cancer in 1996 at age 78. Dennis has worked as a landscaper for about 20 years, and doctors have told him there could be a connection between his exposure to fertilizers and pesticides and developing leukemia.

“Doctors told us, chemicals that I’ve used could have caused it, but there’s no way of proving it,” said Shearer, who has operated a landscaping business with his wife for four years.

Family Support

Shearer is drawing strength from his family. Rick and their mother, Ona, have traveled from Idaho to be close to Dennis, whose brothers, Louie and Ted, are expected to arrive from Idaho on Friday.

“We’ve taken over the house,” Rick said.

Dennis’ children from a previous marriage--Brandy, 28; Jason, 26; and Nicole, 22--also have helped lift his spirits.

Nicole, who is developmentally handicapped, has been a special source of inspiration for her father.

“She calls me every morning, every night and tells me she’s praying for me and she worries about me,” Dennis said. “Just the way she talks to me, it’s very inspirational. All my kids have stepped up trying to help out.”

Shearer feels the same way about his extended family--the Louisville players.

Several members of the team recently made a pasta dinner for Shearer at his home. Shearer used the occasion to explain the severity of his condition to the girls.

“They took it pretty good,” he said. “I’m glad they know, but it was hard to walk up to them and say I’m sick. I get too emotional with them.”

To help put the players at ease, Shearer used humor to describe his condition.

“He was making all these jokes about [his leukemia],” said Kari Crawley, a Louisville senior. “We were able to laugh with him again. It wasn’t a down time where everyone was sad.”

The Shearers have presided over mostly good times during their coaching partnership at the all-girls school in Woodland Hills. Competing in the Mission League with state powers Alemany and Harvard-Westlake, Louisville has a 63-34 record in four seasons under the Shearers, including a 16-7 mark last season.

With a four-year enrollment of 460, Louisville has one of the smallest student bodies in the Mission League but has enjoyed success against larger schools, reaching the playoffs in each of the past four seasons.

Every year, the Shearers have circled a key game on Louisville’s schedule, targeting a possible upset. Usually the team has pulled it off.

Former Louisville player Becky Witt sees a parable in Dennis’ struggle with leukemia.

“At Louisville, we were almost always underdogs, a lot like he is now,” said Witt, a freshman softball player at Fresno State. “But he instilled in us the belief that anything was possible and that underdogs do come out on top.

“I think he’s going to make it.”

Rob Fernas is a Times staff writer and Dave Desmond is a correspondent.