Colts coach Pagano has leukemia

INDIANAPOLIS - It took Chuck Pagano less than 9 months to instill his fighter's mentality and hopeful spirit in the Indianapolis Colts.

He will need both to survive the biggest battle of his life - leukemia.

In a somber news conference Monday - one day before Pagano's 52nd birthday - the Colts announced that their new coach had been hospitalized for cancer treatment and probably would not return to full coaching duties this season. He will be replaced on an interim basis by offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who coached at Temple from 1983-88.

Pagano, a father of three girls, notified Arians in a heartbreaking call Sunday.

"My first reaction was how is everything, how's Tina, how's the girls," Arians said, his voice cracking as he recalled his own fight with prostate cancer in 2007. "I know him. He's a fighter. He's survived tough times already in his life. As a cancer survivor myself, I know that these first few days are really hard on you."

Team owner Jim Irsay, who began his career as a Colts ball boy in the early 1970s, said the only comparison he could come up with was Vince Lombardi's cancer diagnosis during the summer of 1970.

After practice, players signed a get-well card that read in part, "We are in your corner 100 percent. Get rest, but we can't wait to get our leader back." The usually jovial comments were replaced by concerned looks and serious discussion about life - not football.

Pagano was hired in January, replacing Jim Caldwell who went 2-14 last season.

Pagano was admitted to an Indianapolis hospital last Wednesday to begin treatments for acute promyelocytic leukemia, an illness in which the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells that interfere with healthy blood cells. Symptoms can include weakness, weight loss and easy bruising or bleeding.

Pagano's physician, Dr. Larry Cripe, said the coach will be treated with chemotherapy and drugs - a process that usually requires patients to spend 4 to 5 weeks in the hospital. Irsay said he expected Pagano to stay a bit longer, 6 to 8 weeks.

Indy (1-2) hosts the Packers (2-2) on Sunday.