Michael Lohberg, 58-year-old coach of Olympic swimmer
Dara Torres and seven other Olympians, was diagnosed in July with Aplastic Anemia. Local physicians told him he had only weeks to live before he went to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for treatment. He has been treated there since July 24 by Dr. Neal Young, an expert from the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute. Lohberg's sister is being tested as a possible bone marrow match.
Dara Torres has now traveled to China for the Bejing Olympics and will compete without her coach, although she talks with him daily. Torres, 41, is a headline swimmer who competed in the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 2000 Olympics, winning four gold medals and nine medals overall, and is the oldest American swimmer to qualify for the Olympics. She is a medal contender in two events: the 50-meter freestyle and the 4x100 meter freestyle relay.