During Wednesday’s broadcast of Front Row on NBC affiliate WKYC in Cleveland, the radio “Voice of the Browns” released video of himself ringing the bell at a University Hospitals facility after completing his final radiation treatment for cancer. Donovan, 67, was first diagnosed with leukaemia in 2000 and underwent a bone marrow transplant in the summer of 2011, but relapsed last year.
“Big day everybody, my last radiation treatment,” Donovan says in the video. “Twenty-five up and 25 down. What a team I had. What an honour. “Ring the bell.
While Donovan originally told WKYC viewers about his recurrence in May, he went on to call the Browns’ season-opening victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Donovan informed listeners at the end of the game that he would be taking a medical leave, and Chris Rose, Andrew Siciliano, and Paul Keels will take over as play-by-play announcers for Browns games.
Donovan, a Boston native, has been a fixture in Cleveland’s sports scene since the 1980s, when he began his career at WKYC. After calling NFL games for NBC from 1987 to 1997, he became the Browns’ radio voice when the organisation returned to the NFL in 1999.
