Alternative to bone marrow makes recovery possible for 13-year-old cancer patient

The Tucson teen known to many by his first name has begun his latest battle against leukemia at University Medical Center, with a little encouragement from his friends.

Carlos Valencia checked into the hospital yesterday morning and received his first dose of chemotherapy at 10 p.m., which will repeat once every six hours for the next four days. After about two days, he will be given more chemotherapy-and then radiation treatment and a regimen of strong immunosuppressant drugs.

Carlos' chance of survival are about 50 percent with the cord blood transplant he will undergo on April 16. He is expected to stay in the hospital, or as he calls it, "the slammer," for at least six weeks.

When the media floodgates opened to Arizona's locker room for pre-Final Four interviews Friday, the Wildcat reserve players were all donning T-shirts saying, "No comment."

They were sick of doing interviews, tired of having microphones jammed in their faces and truly wished that they didn't have to answer anymore questions about their NCAA Tournament experience.

Forget about Arizona's All-Americans. Freshmen Jason Ranne, Travis Hanour and Andrew Zahn, sophomores Mike Schwertley and redshirt Rick Anderson, and senior John Ash wanted out of the spotlight.

At least that's what their shirts seemed to indicate.

On Tuesday, when I drove through the streets of Tucson with the men's basketball team in their homecoming celebration, I was struck with the deep connection our community feels for the Wildcats. Many of those loyal fans had been standing in the sun for hours waiting for the team plane, which was more than an hour late. I was intensely moved by our fans' support of our team in the NCAA finals. I really believe the many signs that read, "The Wildcats are number one in our hearts." When I got to the Arizona Stadium, thousands more greeted the team and chanted, "You're Number One." I was so proud of our community.

On Monday night, at the end of the Championship game against Duke, I was deeply impressed by the way our coaches and team handled their loss with grace and dignity. I held my head high as I exited the arena. But when I got back to my hotel room and saw Fourth Avenue burning on national TV, I was devastated and angry at the jerks who trashed our town. These were not fans. They were thugs.

Students come without experience, expectations

After overcoming the adversities of a tight budget, sick actors and a cramped venue, the Underground Theater (UGT) workshop members are about to perform seven one-act plays.

Every aspect of the plays - including producing, writing, directing and acting - were executed exclusively by University of Arizona students, few of whom are theater arts majors.

"One of the best parts of Underground Theater is that we have so many different (student) majors," said director Anne Heintz, an English and theater senior. "It brings people from all different departments together. We have engineering majors writing plays, MIS majors directing and microcellular biology majors acting in (the plays)."