S.F. Coach's Cancer Has Spread

May 25, 1999 / 7:23 PM EDT / AP

A liver transplant for San Francisco 49ers line coach Bobb McKittrick was canceled after doctors discovered his cancer has spread from his bile duct.

McKittrick, 63, went to Stanford University Medical Center Monday to receive a partial liver from a donor in Las Vegas.

He was to have shared the organ with a 6-year-old girl in a procedure known as a split-liver transplant. The girl, too small to accept an adult liver, was scheduled to receive a lobe of the organ before the rest went to McKittrick.

But exploratory surgery Monday night revealed that the cancer, initially contained in the bile duct, had spread. The transplant procedure, to be performed by liver specialists Drs. Carlos Esquivel and Kenneth Drazlan, was canceled and McKittrick instead had a biopsy.

"They did an exploratory (procedure) and found some pinpoint spots. The cancer spread so they couldn't do the transplant," said Teckla McKittrick, the coach's wife. "They operated on him for about three hours and did a biopsy. He'll probably be in the hospital for three or four days and they'll decide what to do. It's not good news."

McKittrick told the San Francisco Examiner he learned Monday morning about the organ being found in Las Vegas.

"Next thing I know, they say, 'We've got a liver for you.' The assistant surgeon was leaving (for Las Vegas) almost immediately after talking to me," McKittrick told the newspaper.

McKittrick was diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct in mid-January. He began chemotherapy and radiation in February and finished the regimen in mid-April. In the process, the 200-pound McKittrick lost 33 pounds.

"I feel pretty good until I do something, then I don't have any stamina," he said. "I get tired easily."

Because he has already had radiation in addition to chemotherapy, McKittrick's treatment options are limited.

"Radiation is out," his son, Ladd McKittrick, said. "He's already had his maximum. Some sort of chemotherapy will be determined. That probably will be the most likely treatment."

McKittrick's future with the 49ers, whom he joined in 1979, is uncertain. His illness made the team shift tight ends coach Pat Morris to the offensive line. In the last minicamp, Morris was assisted by former 49ers guard Guy McIntyre.