Kailan's story
An Unrelated Donor "Saved My Life"
Kailan woke up with his elbow throbbing. It was February 2001 and he was supposed to be on a video set later that day to play drums for Motown R&B artist Brian McKnight. Kailan’s elbow had been hurting for a while (something he thought might be related to playing the drums) but on this day the pain was intense enough to motivate him to go to the hospital. He figured he’d get in, get help and get to his job.
That wasn’t meant to be. After he had blood tests and a chromosome biopsy, a doctor came to Kailan and his family with some sobering news. His white blood cell count was nearly 20 times higher than normal, and the diagnosis was chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
“At that time, I really didn’t know what that was,” says Kailan. “I asked the doctor if there was something he could give me for it so I could get back to my life. I remember he asked me, ‘Do you know what leukemia is?’ When I said ‘No, not really,’ he answered, ‘Blood cancer.’” Seeing the panic in the eyes of the family members made the hard news all the harder to bear, Kailan recalls. But there was little time to process what it all meant as further blood work and treatment started that same day.
Kailan had only recently moved to Minnesota from Tennessee with his then-wife and three young girls. A musician by trade, he had a rapidly growing career as a back-up drummer for a number of internationally known artists and was also playing around town with several local bands, church groups and choirs.
For about eight and a half years, the drugs imatinib (Sprycel) and dastinib (Gleevec) -- which are chemotherapy in pill form -- managed to keep his leukemia at bay. “For awhile, I was doing really well,” recalls Kailan, who said no one outside his family even knew he was battling cancer. “I told myself, ‘I’m here, I’m alive, I’m going to get better, and I don’t want any pity.’”
In addition to working a part time job at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, Kailan continued playing with local club favorites such as Red Veda and R-Factor (formerly Rupert’s Orchestra) and many more. (Watch Kailan performing with the Prophets of Soul in Minneapolis in 2006.) His work also included gigs as a drummer for artists such as Tweet (a Missy Elliot artist), Tyrese Gibson and John P. Kee, as well as “aspiring artists of all genres of music nationwide,” he says. All this, in addition to what Kailan calls his most important role as the full-time father of his four girls.
Throughout this time, Kailan’s leukemia was being monitored by both his community onocologist in Burnsville and by Dr. Daniel Weisdorf at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. It was after a biopsy in January 2009 that Dr. Weisdorf told Kailan the time had come to start looking for a bone marrow donor. Kailan would need a transplant, or he might not survive another two years.
Like most people in need of a transplant, Kailan did not have a family member who was a match. So the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fariview, turned to the Minneapolis-based National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and its Be the Match Registry to try to find an unrelated matched donor. For people of African-American descent, like Kailan, the search for a donor can be difficult, because of the relatively low number of ethnic-minority donors in the registry.
But luck was on Kailan’s side. In less than three weeks after the donor search began, a full match was found. Then, when the donation unfortunately fell through, another full match was found only a couple of weeks later. “I had prayed about this, and I knew I was going to be ok,” says Kailan. “When something that rare happens twice within a month – I just knew God was looking out for me.”
Kailan had his transplant in April 2009. The road since that time hasn’t been easy. He’s battled graft-versus-host disease that has affected his ability to taste and enjoy food, caused skin changes and resulted in weight loss. “I used to work out every day to stay in shape and was 167 pounds. Now I’m about 125 pounds soaking wet!” he says with a chuckle. “But I’m alive, and I have my family – that part has never changed. I tell my daughters that family is forever.”
Kailan is not yet back on the music circuit, but hopes to start playing again as soon as his health allows. In the meantime, he is spending time writing songs and is volunteering some of his time to get the word out about the need for minority donors.
“Finding a donor saved my life,” he says. “I want to do anything I can to help other people have that same chance.”
