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How 1 restaurant exec needs your help to beat cancer

Nick Vojnovic shares his battle with cancer and urges people to become bone marrow donors.

February 3, 2017

By Nick Vojnovic, president, Little Greek FreshGrill

While I was president of Beef O’Brady’s, we were doing a fundraiser for Leukemia, and participated in a drive to help a child battling leukemia. I turned out to be a match for someone in need of a bone marrow transplant.

I did the simple, painless cotton swab cheek test, which lead to doctors discovering that there was something wrong with my own blood. My blood cells were irregular and I was rejected as a donor. I was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare form of bone marrow cancer — a life-threatening condition that would require a bone marrow transplant.

Obviously, my world was turned upside down. I had never been seriously ill. I had never heard of this disease. Doctors were giving me three years to live. My head was spinning. I went numb. For the first time in my life, I felt extremely mortal. Then my worries turned to Rene, my wife of 28 years, my son and daughter and my business. My mother has dementia, so who would go visit her?

They put me on a clinical trial with two drugs. The doctors' concern was that my condition could turn into acute myeloid leukemia. My condition worsened. Then, I was told it was time for the transplant. I needed to find a donor.

Donors are found through something called "Be the Match" donor registry. There were 14 million people in the registry, and I was lucky to find one match.

I did some research and learned there are 14,000 people who don’t have a match. Instead of moping, I decided to do what I could to help others who need a match. I told my wife, "Let's use our network, get the 'Be the Match' testing kit and sign up to help others and save a life." We did.

ABC Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts is my hero and my motivation. She had a successful bone marrow transplant. After a challenging recovery, she is back on the air in full-force.

In terms of my restaurants, industry colleagues have rallied to step up and help me. We also have a great internal team already in place.  
This is an important issue. I decided to go public so I could help build awareness. Through the registry we set up, we have already found a match for someone in need of a transplant. My son’s best friend signed up in September and was notified in November that he was a match for a 39-year-old woman with Multiple Myeloma. He has agreed to be a donor and has gone through additional testing. This is very gratifying.

Could you be the match? Bone marrow/stem cell donors should be between the ages of 18 and 44. You can learn more about the registry drive and testing by going to  join.bethematch.org/nickvojnovic

Editor's note: Vojnovic's transplant was last week. A spokesperson for the CEO said he is optimistic for a recovery, but it will be a long process.