CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Unbeknownst to viewers and even co-workers, WKYC TV 3 sports director and "radio voice of the Browns" Jim Donovan has been receiving treatment for leukemia for 11 years.
The disease is now causing him to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Donovan will take a leave of absence to have the procedure done in the coming weeks. He made the announcement on his 11 p.m. sportscast on Channel 3 tonight.
Donovan, 54, was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the summer of 2000. The disease was treated by chemotherapy and other therapies over the years. A flare-up of the disease in January resulted in the decision to have the bone marrow procedure.
He was put on a waiting list for a donor and learned in April that a match was found.
"From the time I got diagnosed, the transplant option was always laid out to me," Donovan said in an interview prior to his sportscast. "The waiting has been kind of torturous. I think we're as ready as we can be."
A native of Boston, Donovan joined Channel 3 in 1985. In that time he's called play-by-play at the network level for NBC on NFL games, the Olympic Games and World Cup Soccer, and won numerous broadcast awards. He was named the Browns' radio voice in 1999. Calling those games has been his favorite assignment.
Donovan's trademark energy and enthusiasm never waned while the team floundered and he coped with various treatment periods. He never missed a Browns game, though he had to give up calling Indians games on Channel 3 because of a rough period in 2008.
"He gets that adrenaline rush just like a player," said Doug Dieken, the former Browns tackle and Donovan's partner on radio broadcasts. "On game day, he wakes up and he's ready to go. He puts everything he's got into it. After a game he's drained as if he played.
