By PETE IACOBELLI
The Associated Press
COLOMBIA – Dawn Staley’s passion is evident when she is on a basketball court.
When she was a player, she was there and now her impetuous behavior can be seen as South Carolina’s female head coach for a long time. It will be on display again this summer, when she leads the United States team at the Tokyo Olympics.
But when her sister, Tracey Underwood, was diagnosed with leukemia last year, it wasn’t because of a game, it was a matter of life and death.
Staley, the trainer, started doing what she does – mobilizing her family and others to action.
“We had to activate it,” said Staley.
The journey began a year ago. Underwood and Staley didn’t know what to think when Tracey had a persistent cough in March 2020, with no real answer as to why. Underwood was constantly tired and could barely finish a walk through the neighborhood without having to rest.
One weekend, Underwood was walking and a friend had “to help her go home arm in arm,” said Staley.
Underwood’s condition has worsened. She had pain in the groin and the lymph nodes were swollen. She finally went to the emergency room in May and the tests revealed the real cause – leukemia, cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including bone marrow.
There was relief – and determination – in the diagnosis.
“Now, I knew what it was,” said Underwood in a call from Zoom to the Associated Press. “Let’s heal this.”
Staley was equally determined, her sister remembering Dawn saying, “You are not going to die of leukemia.”
But Staley needed to know more about his deadly opponent.
She contacted former North Carolina trainer Sylvia Hatchell, who spent a year away from her Tar Heels program in 2013-14 while undergoing treatment for leukemia.
When looking for oncologists, Staley sought out Duke and called Blue Devils male technician Mike Krzyzewski about how to get his sister to the Duke Cancer Institute. There, Underwood’s treatment was led by Dr. David Rizzieri.
“I called everyone in America, I think,” Staley joked.
Underwood needed a bone marrow transplant. Further research by Staley found that the most effective treatment comes from a family donor. Three of Underwood’s four brothers were tested and Brother Lawrence was a 10/10 pair for compatible stem cells needed by his sister.
Staley was a 5/10 match for Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA).
Underwood underwent two rounds of chemotherapy waiting for the 6 million stem cells that saved Lawrence’s life.
“Will I have enough left over?” Lawrence joked about his donation.
It took about three minutes on August 12 for Underwood to receive all of his brother’s cells. Underwood did not feel much different, as he did not feel weak before the transplant.
“I know I was sick,” she said. “But I wasn’t sick where I was bedridden, I can’t speak, I can’t move. It wasn’t like that.”
She said the hardest part came after the transplant. Underwood needed three additional rounds of chemotherapy at the highest doses.
“We couldn’t understand my sister’s stem cell transplant and then chemotherapy to end it all,” said Staley.
The stage is necessary, according to Rizzieri. The doctor said in an email to the AP that the allogeneic stem cell transplant provides the patient with an entirely new immune system “to help fight any residual leukemia that may be lurking, despite all previous therapy.”
Underwood handled it all with a vibrant spirit.
“I know she had some dark days when she cried,” said Staley. “But there were more, ‘Thank you, Jesus’ days.”
Underwood left the hospital on August 31, moving to a nearby hotel with relatives so that oncologists could continue to monitor his condition. The hospital team was attentive to what is known as graft versus host problems, in which donated cells can attack the new body.
This did not happened.
“You feel so good that sometimes you’re waiting for the ceiling to fall, and it doesn’t,” said Underwood with glee.
Staley dealt with his sister’s illness while leading his basketball team through a season impacted by COVID-19 and the sixth Southeast Conference Tournament title in seven years.
Gamecocks are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and arrived in Texas on Tuesday; if they reach Sweet 16, Underwood plans to take a trip to San Antonio.
Underwood, who works for the Richland County Recreation Commission, is returning, although he remains away from groups of people in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The family knows that things could have been very different for Underwood if Lawrence hadn’t been such a strong partner.
So, Staley and his sister are focused on getting potential donors enrolled in a bone marrow registry, Be The Match. The registry links those seeking stem cell transplants to potential donors.
Erica Sevilla, spokeswoman for the registry, said that of the 22 million people registered, less than 1 million (4%) are black.
Due to the different types of tissue for blacks and the low representation in the registry, black patients are less likely to find a compatible blood stem cell donor, according to Sevilla.
Black patients have “only a 23% chance of finding a match compared to a 77% chance for white patients,” she said.
Staley and Sevilla acknowledge black donor skepticism about wanting to be on the record because of historic medical atrocities committed against minorities.
The trainer is working to allay fears of becoming donors and to raise awareness of the critical need for more donors.
Rizzieri said it is essential for people to understand that stem cell donors like Lawrence can have a “strong and robust immune system for life”.
Underwood, 56, is also planning a long, healthy life.
Staley said he never doubted that his sister would be “in the position she is in today because of her spirit”.
Now she wants others, especially in the black community, to have a better chance of survival.