Blood ties: Ky. basketball fan gets Wisconsin assist

Laura Ungar | USAToday

Show Caption Hide Caption UK basketball fan owes his life to a Wisconsin student When self-proclaimed die hard University of Kentucky fan Scott Logdon needed a bone marrow stem cell transplant, luck would have it that a University of Wisconsin student, and total stranger, would be the perfect match.

Scott Logdon is a die-hard University of Kentucky basketball fan, but he can't deny he's got some Wisconsin blood in him -- literally.

When the father of four was being treated for high-risk leukemia at UK in 2013, 20-year-old University of Wisconsin student Chris Wirz anonymously donated bone marrow stem cells to him. The two men first spoke just after the Wildcats bested the Badgers during last year's NCAA Final Four, and basketball was a frequent topic of conversation as their friendship grew.

While each will be rooting for his own team during this Saturday's Final Four rematch, both say they have a soft spot for the other team.

"I've stayed true to UK," said Logdon, 44, of Salvisa, Ky. "But when I talked to Chris for the first time I told him, 'That's why I felt so bad when we beat you: I've got Badger blood in me!"'

Wirz, who lives three blocks from where the Badgers play, hopes Wisconsin wins this year, and has even predicted an upset in his basketball bracket. "Who doesn't want to root for the underdog?" he said.

But he plans to send a text of congratulations if Logdon's team wins -- since their connection is much deeper than basketball rivalry.

"We're literally working off the same immune system," said Wirz, now 22 and a University of Wisconsin senior. "This has been one of the most emotionally overwhelming experiences of my life, realizing how important he is to his family and his community and seeing the hole that would've been left by him."

A dire diagnosis

Logdon, chief deputy at Woodford County Detention Center in Versailles, Ky., and a youth minister in his church, recalled playing basketball with teenagers just a few nights before going to the doctor for what his wife, Angela, initially thought was strep.

But tests showed he had acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer estimated by the American Cancer Society to have stricken 18,860 Americans last year and killed about 10,460, mostly adults.

"I was in shock at first," Lodgon said. "It was very scary, and I hadn't known anyone who had had leukemia. We just prayed a lot and put our faith in God. I wasn't scared of dying, but I was scared to leave my wife and kids."

Logdon had chemotherapy and spent many weeks hospitalized. At home, his kids had to get showers and change clothes after school so they wouldn't spread germs to their dad.

"It was terrible ... the worst time," Angela Logdon said. One of the only bright spots, she said, was when UK Coach John Calipari called his hospital room at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center in Lexington that October to cheer him up. "That was very special. It made Scott's day."

Greg Monohan, the hematologist/oncologist who treated Logdon, said he had a chromosomal abnormality that made his disease high-risk -- meaning even with chemotherapy it could come back, and a bone-marrow stem cell transplant is often recommended. A third of the time, a family member can donate. But in two-thirds of cases, including Lodgon's, patients depend on bone-marrow registries. And registries depend on the generosity of donors.

FOR INFORMATION: bethematch.org

Wirz got involved almost by accident. He recalled walking to the library at UW as a freshman and spotting his cousin, who was helping with a bone marrow drive. Wirz agreed to get a cheek swab. A year later, he was asked to give a blood sample, but it wasn't a match for that patient. He was contacted again a few months later, when Logdon was languishing in his hospital bed. This time, the match was perfect.

Wirz flew to Washington, D.C., for a physical evaluation, then again to collect the stem cells. That involved sitting in a hospital bed for about six hours as blood was taken out of one arm so that stem cells could be extracted, and the blood was returned through his other arm as he chatted with nurses and watched TV.

Back in Kentucky, Logdon received a blood transfusion of Wirz's stem cells on Jan. 31, 2013. Monohan said he suffered all the common, temporary side effects -- tiredness, loss of appetite and hair loss among them -- but the cells ultimately helped him become cancer-free.

"This is the best outcome," Monohan said. "This is what we hope for."

A link transcending basketball

Logdon and his wife wanted to meet their donor if he was willing. But personal information is kept confidential for a year after transplants in case something goes wrong. So all either man knew was the age and gender of the other until shortly after last year's basketball game.

The Logdons and their children wrote letters to their donor even before they knew him. Their youngest son thanked Wirz "so my dad could still take me fishing."

"We just couldn't thank him enough," said Angela Logdon, a UK graduate and speech therapist. "He saved Scott's life."

When the year was up, Logdon got a Facebook "friend" request from a young Wisconsin man, but didn't accept it because he didn't know the person. It was Wirz, who then emailed Angela. The men talked for an hour by phone that night and agreed to meet in person. Wirz visited Kentucky with his sister and mother last summer, and one of their stops was Rupp Arena in Lexington, where UK's home court is located. Wirz recalled being struck by Logdon, his family and the way his small-town community depended on him.

"I realized: This is real," Wirz said. "He has four kids and a wife and all these people who are rooting for him ...The transplant was very important. This was somebody's son, their husband. And I'm part of it on a different level."

Logdon called Wirz "an amazing young man" with "a very sacrificial attitude."

"You don't find many 20-year-olds putting their lives on hold like he did," he said.

Wirz, now a graduating senior with a triple major in the sciences, said he'll always be linked to the man he saved, through friendship as well as biology. And with Saturday's game looming, Logdon is also thinking a lot about their blood ties.

"I'm still all for UK. I bleed blue," he said. But if Wisconsin loses, "I admit I'll feel a little bit bad."

For donor information: bethematch.org