Real Salt Lake notebook: Williams has hope for ailing wife

SANDY — Even though Andy Williams admits he's kind of getting used to his ailing wife living in Seattle, it doesn't make the situation any easier.

She wasn't at Rio Tinto Stadium two weeks ago when Williams scored on a scintillating free kick against New England, and she wasn't there either Wednesday night as Andy Williams made his first start of the 2009 season.

"The only thing that bothered me was Marcia wasn't there or even watching it on TV," said Williams.

Of comfort for Williams is there's hope for his wife, Marcia, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the leading leukemia research center in the world. His wife finished her second round of chemotherapy last week, and, just like it did following the first round of chemo, her leukemia has gone into remission, but it will come back.

Chemotherapy alone will never cure her rare form of leukemia — acute myeloid type 6 — she needs a bone marrow transplant. Doctors still haven't found her a perfect match, but there's hope.

Three partial genetic donor matches have been discovered. Doctors don't want to proceed with a bone marrow transplant with a partial match, so they're more closely evaluating the stem cells of the partial matches.

A perfect "clinical match" is when a patient has six antigens in common with a donor. There are 10,000 possible combinations of these six antigens, so a perfect match is rare. Williams said doctors should be able to proceed with a transplant for his wife if five of six antigens are matched up.

Testing on the three partial matches should be finalized this weekend.

Marcia Williams first started feeling sick about a year ago, and she was officially diagnosed with leukemia last July. Andy Williams, who's been a Real Salt Lake fan favorite since joining the team back in 2005, said he and his family are forever grateful for the support they've received from the entire soccer community both in Utah and throughout the country.

"Continue praying and hoping for the best," Williams said. "God has a decision for all of us, and hopefully it will be a good one for us."

Registering with the bone marrow donor program is simple. Visit dkmsamericas.org, swab your cheek when your packet arrives in the mail, then mail it back.

WORLD CUP REUNION: Six players and one coach from the U.S. National Team that took place in the 2002 World Cup were at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday.