Craig Sager in good spirits after rare third bone marrow transplant

Famed Turner Sports sideline broadcaster Craig Sager is fighting hard in his battle with leukemia, which caused him to miss the Olympics earlier this summer thanks to preparing for his third bone marrow transplant in three years. That transplant happened Wednesday, and Sager’s son Craig Jr. tweeted several photos of his father and his optimistic attitude:

https://twitter.com/CraigSagerJr/status/771045439210655745

https://twitter.com/AndyGlockner/status/771047931373768705

Fearless in the spotlight. Confident in the clutch.
And I mean NOTHING but positive thinking every single day of it. https://t.co/UkapucKLCB

— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr) August 31, 2016

Three transplants, three straight summers spent playing life's version of Chutes and Ladders. pic.twitter.com/DQUXcWWk8R

— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr) August 31, 2016

Bone marrow transplants are arduous and difficult, so going through a third is incredibly unusual and difficult:

https://twitter.com/MishBradt/status/771011861592637440

Sager’s stem cell transplantation physician, Dr. Muzaffar Qazilbash, told The Associated Press third transplants are exceptionally rare:

His son, Craig Sager II, was the donor for his first two transplants, which put the elder Sager into remission for close to a year each time. This time, the anonymous 20-year-old donor was considered a perfect match.

Sager began the transplant at about 11:30 a.m. Central time at MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston. The procedure was expected to take some 10 hours.

Dr. Muzaffar Qazilbash, Sager’s stem cell transplantation physician, researched thousands of such transplants at MD Anderson over the last 15 years to illustrate just how uncommon Sager’s current procedure is.

“It’s less than 1 percent of the total number of transplants,” Qazilbash told The Associated Press. “It’s very rare to have three transplants.”

Some of that is because of how hard it can be to find matching donors, which speaks to an important reason for these tweets, photos and stories, beyond just updating the sports world on Sager’s status. As Sager Jr. has noted with his tweets and retweets, it’s crucial to raise awareness of leukemia and the need for bone marrow donations, especially amongst minority groups:

Finding a DNA match is reliant on difficult odds
We need awareness & more minorities on the registry to match with minority patients in need

— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr) August 31, 2016

You never know how much you can help…check out @BeTheMatch! Easy to register & possibly help save someone's life! https://t.co/vj6MhJvehe

— Amy Fadool Kane (@amyfadoolNBCS) August 31, 2016

1,000+ ppl will die this year bc they can't find a match. A diverse registry w/ parallel odds would help match DNA. https://t.co/udTbzd9qTT

— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr) August 31, 2016

Please add bi-racial people to that list of needed donors. One of Rod Carew's daughters died because no match could be found.

— Joe Schlmoe (@Faux_Schlmoe) August 31, 2016

Yes. Mathematically, the odds for bi-racial patients finding matches are by far the steepest. https://t.co/2vAIOcy4ny

— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr) August 31, 2016

https://twitter.com/chasekr8/status/771023727395995648

I ran a 10K hours after I donated bone marrow in 2014 to show it's not as scary as it may seem. Awareness is coming. https://t.co/ptrWeljfvh

— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr) August 31, 2016

Here’s wishing Sager the best in his ongoing battle, and here’s hoping his struggle inspires others to donate much-needed bone marrow.

[The Score]