Muhlenberg College Athletics

  Duke's Story  |  Media Coverage  |  Updates  


Duke's Story
Mike "Duke" Donnelly, one of the most successful coaches in Muhlenberg College history, was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia in the spring of 2017 and began treatment at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. Following a series of tests, doctors determined that he needed a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible.

To support a man who has helped countless young men in his 20 years with the Mules and 40 years of coaching overall, Muhlenberg partnered with Be The Match and the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation to encourage individuals ages 18 to 44 to join the national marrow registry. 

If you are not between 18 and 44, there are still plenty of ways you can contribute, including donating blood, making a financial donation and helping to spread the word.

Every 3 minutes, a baby, child or adult is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukemia. Many of these patients need a marrow transplant to survive, but don’t have a matching marrow donor in their family. They turn to the Be The Match Registry® to find a donor who can save their life.

Coach Donnelly passed away on October 4, 2017, but an important part of his legacy is his advocacy for leukemia and blood diseases. Getting screened to be a bone marrow donor is quick and painless, and it could save a life! Please visit the following link to get started:

http://join.bethematch.org/DigInForDuke

Please include this link and the hashtag #DigInForDuke in any social media posts related to your registration.


FAQs about joining the bone marrow registry

Get In the Game program - all 10 Centennial Conference schools will be involved in a donor registry drive

Media Coverage
"Digging in for Duke" - D3football.com (September 7, 2017)

"When Muhlenberg Gives, We Don't Hold Back" - Muhlenberg website feature (September 6, 2017)

Service Electric TV2 report on Muhlenberg Gives (September 5, 2017)

Muhlenberg Gives photo gallery

"Muhlenberg community comes out to support coach battling leukemia" - Morning Call (September 1, 2017)

"Muhlenberg football coach Mike Donnelly in fight for life" - Philly.com (August 14, 2017)

"Goff, Mules seeking help for Donnelly" - Scranton Times-Tribune (July 16, 2017)

D3football.com Podcast - segments starting at 21:45 and 52:25 (July 10, 2017) 

"Muhlenberg football coach Mike Donnelly's battle with acute monocytic leukemia merely 'a bump in the road'" - Morning Call (July 2, 2017)

"Against a grave threat, Coach 'Duke' Donnelly will find a way to win" - WFMZ (June 29, 2017)

"Mike Donnelly still focusing on his kids despite all the obstacles" - WFMZ (June 29, 2017)

Service Electric TV2 report (June 28, 2017)

"Muhlenberg's Donnelly fighting leukemia with positivity, passion" - Lehigh Valley Live (June 27, 2017)

Updates from Coach Donnelly 
September 5
My first college game week and game day from a hospital room. Since 1966 I’d never missed a football game until last weekend, September 2, 2017, because leukemia came calling. 

People shake their heads when I mention how disappointed I am about being out of football because they think I don’t understand the gravity of my situation or they think I’ll put football ahead of taking care of myself. Rest assured I am doing everything I can with a great medical team leading the way to beat my leukemia and in some way raise awareness about a disease I know we can knock out. However, I’m really pissed, really mad that the big C has temporarily stopped me from doing what I love and interrupts my life at home with the people I love. It angers me that I can’t coach or spend time with my family or just go outside to smell the smells and listen to the sounds or have a cold one with my friends on my favorite side porch.  I can deal with the illness - it’s the other stuff that bothers me.

Well I left the football team on Monday night August 28 and I’ve been in Buffalo since Tuesday, August 29, for doctor meetings and getting my central line placed. On Thursday I was admitted to the hospital for the “duration” and my first of my 5 rounds of chemo. 

Mules made an impact 
On Friday, September 1 Muhlenberg football, with tremendous support from the Muhlenberg leadership and the Muhlenberg community, held a “Be The Match” event and blood drive that was a tremendous success: over 288 young people swabbed their mouth and pledged to be a donor and over 100 people donated blood.  Making an impact. 

On Saturday, the football team opened the season with an exhilarating win over Wilkes - and then our JV won on Monday night. What a three-day stretch.

Scary
More scary than injecting chemo is TBI. Today, Tuesday, September 5, I went downstairs for my TBI, total body irradiation. Radiation is weird - you just lay on a stretcher for nine minutes with your left side facing the machine and then flip over for nine more minutes while you get bombarded with high energy x-rays. You can’t feel anything. It doesn’t hurt. They even have nice music playing. But everyone knows that you glow afterwards.

She’s a Hero. 
I’m so proud!  At the exact same time as my TBI, my daughter Lauren is donating her marrow to me. An old friend of the college, former Dean of Students Rudy Ehrenberg, who served and still serves our country, called her a hero. No truer words have ever been spoken about Lauren and all the other selfless people just like her who donate!  

Tomorrow will be Wednesday, September 6. “Day 0” they call it around here.  I understand the procedure is underwhelming: lay on your bed and they give you a transfusion - no fuss no mus. I understand the doctor doesn’t even come in to watch. 

But now I know what “Day 0” refers to.  I will no longer have my own blood, I will have my daughter’s: a gift that another human being made possible so that I have a shot at life. 

More important in the next 4 days:  GO MULES, BEAT DICKINSON!  

June 13
When everyone arrives at the hospital for Induction chemo, they tell you to expect to stay a month to six weeks in the hospital.  The first two weeks they try to kill you with chemo. My last two weeks in the hospital were spent waiting for my blood to produce enough white blood cells so I could come outside without getting an infection.  That day was Wednesday, June 7th, 26 days into treatment.  I was going to beat them at their game and get out earlier than expected.  That changed when I recorded one high temperature on Tuesday night and they kept me two extra days making sure I didn't have an infection.  But by Friday the doctors decided there was no infection, my counts had risen well above the minimum in the two extra days and they let me out of the hospital for a week.
 
Another thing that changed was, unfortunately, my diagnosis. Late in my stay, my genetic testing came back just before I was released.  After looking so promising, I was told by the doctors that I do indeed need to have a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible.
 
On that front, the Transplant team at Roswell Park Cancer Institute is combing the Be The Match Registry for a 10 out of 10 donor for me. In the meantime, I am scheduled for more testing this Thursday 6-15 and then a meeting with the doctors on the 6-22 to decide my treatment options while we wait impatiently for word on a donor.
 
On another front this change in my diagnosis is going to mean that I am going to have a more limited role with the team this fall than I'd hoped for. Muhlenberg is aware of this situation and is taking steps to address this situation to assure that the coaching will continue to put our team "in position to win every week."
 
I've often said that I don't have a job. Never have had a job in 41 years. Never gone to work one day in my career! Why? Having the chance to coach football on the college level, working year after year with amazing 18-22 year old men is not work, it is pure joy, the most fun a man can have day after day, year after year.  
 
Now I find out another thing that sets you amazing young people apart: great health! If you are between the ages of 18-42 you can be a marrow donor in the ideal age range.
 
I would like to encourage every 18 to 42 year old person I know to have a swab taken of your mouth by Be The Match Registry to find out if you could be a match for someone who has Leukemia. It is free and doesn't hurt. And it might save someone's life.
 
I look forward to fighting this disease as I move forward. I hope I move forward with an Army.
 
Dig In!
 
Coach Donnelly 

May 30
Last Thursday, thinking ahead, I requested that my brother-in-law be allowed to bring in a Weber Grill and burgers and famous Sahlen's hot dogs so I could have a cookout on the 5th floor Of Roswell Park on Memorial Day. My logic was they have this fancy HEPA filtration system in every room to kill germs so it would be up to the task of getting rid of smoke, grease and the fire that goes with a Coach Donnelly cookout. I have to report that some higher up decided against this idea - probably doesn't like Memorial Day picnics or something?

Anyway, Happy Memorial Day! Remember to be proud of the place where you live!

Thursday was also day 14 and the big test day. Over the weekend, I got the results of my follow up bone marrow biopsy from Day 14 and the best result was the result. I have cleared my first hurdle with flying colors. There was no cancer ( a clean slide) and thankfully, I do not need a transplant. This means that I can get out of the bubble when I have enough white blood cells to survive "out there" with the rest of you. How long does it take to build white blood cells? It can't be fast enough. The record is 8 days after day 14 by a younger patient. The record for the longest time to get out? I don't know, but I'm pressing my stem cells hard so I can be closer to the 22 days.

After I get out of Roswell, I will be doing my best to avoid infection until my blood counts return to normal. When that happens, they will take another look at my marrow and decide on the next chemo treatment plan. It is a fact that everyone with leukemia has this second round of chemo no matter what. It is just a matter of how much, how many, inpatient, outpatient and type of chemo.

Thank you for your support.

Maybe in celebration of Memorial Day and sacrifice, think about stepping up and donating platelets or get your mouth swabbed for the bone marrow bank.

I hope that you had a great Memorial Day holiday and your cookout went better than mine! Haha.

Dig In

Coach Donnelly

May 26
Thursday May 25th, was exam day in my fight against leukemia. 14 days ago, I arrived at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in Buffalo NY, was diagnosed with Acute Monocytic Leukemia (M5) and started continuous chemo for 7 straight days. The treatment is called 7 plus 3. No discussion about the drugs and the side effects, no debate, no argument. After all, what choice do you have? Meet it head on, "LET'S GET THIS STARTED" - and start beating this thing.

Since I started chemo, I have had NONE of the terrible side effects that everyone hears about: getting sick, rashes, sores in the mouth, bad intestinal problems, infection, unable to eat, as the drug slowly eliminates my immune system, killing cancer and unfortunately a lot of good things in my blood. The nurses and doctors are pretty happy. I think it is good clean living, a positive mental attitude, working with amazing young men, and a don't give up attitude. But more important is the care I am getting from an amazing staff of dedicated cancer fighters who have, unfortunately, done this many times before. I have told many that if I ran my program like Roswell Park Cancer Institute runs their operation my team would be undefeated every year!

So today they dug into my hip and took out all of the stuff they needed to determine what is in my blood. Ideally, it will be a clear slide with nothing living: especially cancer cells. It could show a lot of things along a spectrum and what they see will determine my follow up or consolidation treatment. Everyone gets more chemo but I guess it is to what degree. At the far end of the spectrum is Bone Marrow Transplant.

Tomorrow the doctors inject some chemo in my spine to fight the cancers that might be hiding. I'll let you know how that goes but I do dread needles.

I told the folks at Muhlenberg that I hope to raise awareness.
How can we help?
The doctor tells me that there is a need for platelets (stop bleeding) donations.
I have reached out to Andy Talley Foundation and I hope that Muhlenberg College Football will join 80 other colleges including many in our conference in the drive to register young people on teams and students on the campus for the Bone Marrow Transplant Bank.

An awful lot people have said "if there is anything I can do to help you, do not hesitate to contact me. I don't need anything. But I do need people to help by doing what you can do: act against the disease.

Coach Donnelly