UMD hockey player returns to ice after bone marrow transplant. thank his brother

University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs hockey player Will Francis, a senior at Shoreview College, returned to the ice this spring after undergoing a bone marrow transplant.

“Once I started, I didn't know what my life was going to be like again,” Francis said. “I didn’t know if I was going to play hockey again.”

Francis has battled leukemia twice. The initial cancer diagnosis was in March 2020, and chemotherapy was completed in June 2022. The cancer returned in August 2023. Frances decided to undergo a bone marrow transplant in April.

“I had a great opportunity,” he said. “My little brother looks 100% suitable.”

Frances' younger brother Luke, who was 14 at the time of the surgery in April, donated white blood cells to help.

“It means a lot. It definitely brought us closer together,” Francis said.

“We missed seeing him on the field last year, and we missed seeing him on the ice this year,” said UMD men's hockey head coach Scott Sandelin. “He brings size and edge to his game.”

Francis, a defenseman, was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

He played high school hockey at Centennial in North Metro and then junior hockey with the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL.

After the transplant, Francis said his brother joked about his future.

“[Luke] “I always joke that if I ever make it to the NHL, 'It'll be my blood, not yours,'” Francis said. “We realized that the best way to get through this situation is with humor.”

In a pregame news conference this weekend in Duluth, he described his brother as “courageous.”

The Bulldogs open the 2024-2025 season this weekend against Bemidji State University at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth on Saturday at 5 p.m.

You can join the National Bone Marrow Donor Program donor registry here.