CLEVELAND — For nearly a quarter century, Jim Donovan fought an incredibly brave, yet largely private battle with cancer. That fight ended on Friday as the former WKYC sports anchor and Cleveland Browns radio voice passed away at the age of 68.
In 2000, Jimmy was getting ready for his second season as the “Voice of the Browns” when he began to experience some stomach issues. After multiple blood tests, he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
The National Cancer Institute defines CLL as “a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). Leukemia may affect red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.”
After his diagnosis, Jimmy began a private, decade-long battle with the disease that ultimately resulted in a bone-marrow transplant in the summer of 2011. Through it all, Jimmy relied on the two most important people in his life: his wife Cheryl and daughter Meghan.
“We did it together,” Jimmy recalled in a 2016 interview with WKYC’s Matt Florjancic. “There were a lot of really tough moments, but Cheryl was just amazing. Everybody needs an advocate when you’re doing that because there are certain things that you don’t want to hear and you don’t hear. You really don’t physically hear things, so you need somebody there with you and she was there.”
Cheryl fulfilled several roles as Jimmy was battling his way through the bone-marrow transplant and subsequent recovery process. And even before the transplant, Meghan would help Cheryl in getting Jim to and from appointments with the doctor.
“She was a coach, she was a teammate, she was a great wife,” Donovan said. “It was just unbelievable. There were a lot of things that she had to do. She had to keep our life going at home, and I was stuck in a hospital for a long period of time. It was just amazing. She was absolutely just a real rock, and it was a tough thing for Meghan to go through.
“She battled with us through it because there was a lot before the transplant. There were a lot of years of treatment and chemo, and before the decision was made that, ‘Hey, the chemo’s not working like we want it to and so, now, you have to have a bone marrow transplant.’
“There were a lot of weeks of feeling awful when you would go through the treatment. Meghan would come and pick me up a lot from chemo, and you have to go through it together. We don’t have a big family, but the three of us really banded together and got through the whole thing.”
A NEW MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
The key to Jimmy’s bone marrow transplant was finding someone who was just the right match. That match was a Virginia corrections officer named Dallas Gentry.
A native of Wyse, Virginia, which is located along the Kentucky and Tennessee borders, Gentry made a decision to register as a donor when he was just 19 years old, and 17 years later, he received the call to make a life-saving donation.
Gentry was a perfect 10-point match to Jimmy, but because of sleep apnea, he had to be treated at a hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville with medication for five days, which caused pain in every bone that has ever been broken. Despite the discomfort in his collarbone, shoulder and back and a bad reaction to the pain-relief medication, Gentry elected to go through with the procedure, which gave Jimmy a second chance at life.
“When I went in to have the transplant, I was really lost,” Jimmy recalled. “I didn’t know what was ahead for me from one day to the next. You have a lot of time on your hands, so I said to myself in the hospital, I was sitting there, ‘I would really like to get ready to do the first Browns game,’ realizing the preseason was out of the question. I remember talking to my doctors, and I saw them every day. They said, ‘Kind of a longshot, but you should have goals, and if you really think you can do it, that would be an incredible thing to pull off.’”
Sure enough, just three months after his transplant, Jimmy “pulled it off” and made a triumphant return to the Browns broadcast booth in time for the start of the 2011 season. It wasn't an easy road back. In addition to battling multiple fevers, there was a diagnosis of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, on Jimmy's earlobe. Doctors performed surgery to remove the mole just days before the season opener.
“When I did the game, as soon as the game was over, I was a wet dishrag. I had no energy left, but I felt like I didn’t have a bone marrow transplant. I just felt great up in the booth. For three-and-a-half hours, it just took my mind off of everything I had gone through and everything I still had in front of me to get totally better, and it was just great,” Jimmy said.
Two years later, Jimmy and his family would have another “great” moment as they welcomed Gentry to their home to in Hinckley to celebrate Thanksgiving.
“When we finally decided that we would really get together, it was the most incredible holiday that you could ever have. It really is a holiday when somebody like that walks into your life and they gave you the thing that kept you alive,” Jimmy remembered.
“SOMETHING WAS AMISS”
During the next decade, Jimmy would closely monitor his condition. On May 31, 2023, he announced that his leukemia had relapsed. Although as he put it, the “trouble” had started a year and a half earlier.
"I noticed something was amiss with my health. My concerns were confirmed to me and it was told to me that I had a relapse of leukemia,” Jimmy said on 3News at 7 that night.
Jimmy told viewers during the previous 18 months, he had been receiving treatment using various forms of chemotherapy, both intravenous and oral. "For the most part, they worked pretty well, but things change, and so we're going to have to go with a different treatment plan — a more aggressive treatment plan, which has already started," he added.
"This is going to be kind of a long and winding road through this treatment plan, because it is going to be aggressive. The goal is: gotta get better, gotta get healthy, gotta move on. I know the deal, I've done it before, and I plan to do it once again," Jimmy explained. "Through all of this, I will be here at Channel 3 and on the radio as much as I can be, but there will be periods of time that I might not be with you, maybe for a day, maybe for longer."
Following the Browns’ 2023 season opener on Sept. 11, 2023, Jimmy announced that he was taking a medical leave from his radio and television duties as part of the next step of his treatment.
"I promise I'll be a listener, and I'll be back as soon as I can," Jimmy declared before signing off.
Once again, Jimmy was right. Just over two months later, he made his triumphant return to the both the Browns radio booth and the WKYC anchor desk.
Before his first game back as the Browns radio voice on Nov. 19 against the Steelers, Jimmy was named the "Dawg Pound Captain,” walking out of the tunnel to a thunderous ovation and smashing a black and yellow guitar. After Cleveland beat Pittsburgh that afternoon, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski gave Jimmy the game ball.
Jimmy continued his battle with CLL into 2024, ringing the bell at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in February to mark the completion of his treatment. Although he retired from WKYC in June, he was set to return to the Browns radio booth to start his 26th season behind the microphone. After announcing the team’s three preseason games, Jimmy announced on Aug. 29 that his cancer had returned “very aggressively” and he would be stepping down as the voice of the Browns.
His farewell letter to Browns fans was pure Jimmy, a testament to his courage, kindness, and loving heart.
“As many of you know I have been dealing with cancer for many years. I've gone through every treatment imaginable. But my cancer is a defiant opponent and has returned and very aggressively. This will require me to devote everything I have in me to continue the fight and my family and I are committed to doing that.”
“I have called Browns games for 25 years. Not a day has gone by when I haven't paused and been so proud to be "The Voice of the Browns". Cheryl, Meghan and I thank you for all the love, support and prayers during my rough patches. It's like having a huge family around us. And that's what makes the Cleveland Browns so special. You do.”