Carl Sagan Gets Bone Marrow Transplant Astronomer-TV Host Treated For Pre-Leukemia Syndrome

Astronomer Carl Sagan is recovering from a bone marrow transplant he received from his sister to combat a disease that can develop into leukemia if left untreated.

Sagan is making “remarkable progress” and has been released to the transplant unit’s outpatient program, officials of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center said in a news release Monday.

At the family’s request, few details of Sagan’s illness have been made public. But the center Monday identified his illness as myelodysplasia, a form of anemia in which the bone marrow malfunctions and produces too few red blood cells.

It is also known as pre-leukemia syndrome, and is nearly always fatal if left untreated, the center said.

Sagan, 60, received the transplant April 7 from his sister, Cari Greene of Charleston, W.Va., who was a perfect match.

He was released from the inpatient transplant unit to the outpatient department “in the last few days,” center spokeswoman Susan Edmonds said.

Patients typically are required to remain in Seattle for 90 to 100 days after their transplants, and it usually takes six to nine months for the patient’s immune system to become fully normal, the center said.

Sagan, who teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1978 book, “The Dragons of Eden,” and was host of the public-television series ” Cosmos.”