Iditarod champ to get bone marrow

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher has found a bone-marrow donor, her husband said.

Butcher is in a Seattle hospital battling acute myelogenous leukemia. The donor match is a 32-year-old woman, and the backup is a man in his 30s. Their names were not released.

"They could be from Palmer and they could be from Panama," said Butcher's husband, David Monson. "We're thrilled."

Butcher, 51, is scheduled for a bone-marrow transplant in early April. She was diagnosed with the disease in early December and is undergoing treatment at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at University of Washington Medical Center.

Right before the transplant, a final round of chemotherapy will essentially kill her bone marrow. If she responds well, she could be back in Alaska by late summer.

Butcher and Monson plan to return to Alaska for three weeks in March before the transplant. "Just in time for the start of the Iditarod," Butcher said. The 1,150-mile race starts March 4 in Anchorage.

According to Monson, the woman who ruled the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in the late 1980s has taken on her affliction with the same determination she showed on the trail.

Butcher and Monson said they are grateful to more than 1,000 Alaskans who had blood tests in December to find a match for Butcher and others needing a marrow transplant.