Teen’s Plight Draws Many Marrow Donors

When 19-year-old Troy Mikolyski came home from work bruised and pale in March, his father was overwhelmed with fear.

Six years ago, Troy was just as pale and unable to heal from a hockey injury when doctors diagnosed him with leukemia--a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissue.

A year in the hospital, chemotherapy and radiation therapy kept the disease in remission for seven years, and Troy and his family thought the nightmare was over.

Until that day in March.

“One day he came home really pale,” said Ted Mikolyski, the teen’s father. “It grabbed my heart and I said to myself, ‘No, it can’t be,’ and then I began to pray, ‘Please, Lord, don’t let it be.’ ”

But it was. And this time, doctors said, only a bone marrow transplant could save Troy, now a Moorpark College student studying criminal law with the hope of joining a police department SWAT team.

Mikolyski, however, is among the lucky patients who are matched to a donor. He is now recuperating after a transplant procedure at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte.

Because the search for a marrow match is exhaustive, the teen’s family and friends organized many drives, including one Saturday at the Easy Street Arena in Simi Valley, to sign up potential donors.

Scores of people showed up at the arena and more than 100 people joined the registry as potential donors.

In addition to the bone marrow drive, the event featured a sports memorabilia auction, live music, barbecue, games, dancing and NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson. Funds raised helped pay for the bone marrow tests, which cost $72 each.

Simi Valley residents Alycia and Todd Jackson stopped by the ice arena on Saturday to donate about 3 1/2 tablespoons of blood to be entered into the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

“I hope I match someone. This could happen to your child, your parent, your relative and you’d hope someone would help,” said Alycia Jackson. “There should never be anyone who dies because they could not find a match.”

The Mikolyski family knows that fear firsthand.

All immediate family members were tested, but none of Todd’s siblings or parents was a match. A donor could not be found among extended family members, either.

That’s when the Mikolyskis’ friends and acquaintances began to help out.

First the Von’s supermarket at 1855 Cochran St. in Simi Valley had a bone marrow drive to search for a donor.

That drive attracted only a few volunteers. But more turned out to help with each successive event--20 efforts in all that ended up putting 900 people on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

“I just learned that one of the people we got on the register is a perfect match for one of the people who was waiting for a donor,” Ted Mikolyski said last week.

Mikolyski’s match was also found from the registry, but about 3,000 others on the list are waiting for donor matches, according to the City of Hope.

“We don’t know where the match came from at this time,” Ted Mikolyski said. “They keep everything confidential for a year before the donor and recipient can meet.”

The donor did write Troy a note saying he was honored to be able to donate some of his bone marrow, Ted Mikolyski said.

“One thing that has come out of all of this is I’ve learned there are so many wonderful, good people out there,” he said. “My son has paid the price for that lesson.”

Arena owner Sean McGillivray said he was touched by Troy’s plight, to help the teen who is an avid ice hockey player.

“Troy is a kid who is an inspiration to an awful lot of people,” he said. “‘I’ve known him since he first put on ice skates. I’ve watched him grow and I admire his family. I’ve seen the excruciating pain he’s gone through. He’s my personal hero.”

Mikolyski is enduring a painful recovery after his Aug. 10 transplant, his father said.

He said his son is fortunate to get an hour’s sleep because of the pain. He cannot eat because of sores in his mouth and throat--the result of four days of three daily doses of full body radiation followed by heavy chemotherapy before the transplant.

Whatever the outcome, Mikolyski’s family said they will continue with the donor drives they have already scheduled and may even plan more.

“After we started this we realized there are more people like Troy who are searching for a transplant who don’t have the incredible resources, the awesome friends that we have, to get more donors on the registry,” said his sister, Nicole Lange. “So, we’re going to keep going to help as many people as we can.”

FYI

Those interested in joining the National Marrow Donor Program Registry may call (805) 497-4197 or (805) 527-9726 cq or call up https://www.hockeyhost.com/troy.