Takeaways:
- Rich Marquez is grateful for the care from his Huntsman Cancer Institute team and the support from his Huntsman World Senior Games team and shares his story to offer hope and to offer hope to those going through a similar journey.
- The Huntsman World Senior Games have raised over $260,000 for Huntsman Cancer Foundation to support the mission of Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Impact: Thanks to the care he received at Huntsman Cancer Institute, Rich Marquez is able to continue to play the sport that he loves.
For the last three years, Rich Marquez has played softball in the . His first year was with a team from North Dakota before he joined a team from Hawaii, which he still plays with. The Huntsman World Senior Games have raised over $260,000 for Huntsman Cancer Foundation to support the mission of Huntsman Cancer Institute at the . Participants are able to make a donation through their registration each year. The 2025 Huntsman World Senior Games will take place October 6-18.
鈥淢y name is Rich Marquez, and I'm here to share a journey I've been on for the last couple of years and also a message of hope. The first is with the Huntsman World Senior Games, where I play men's softball and have participated for the last three years. The second one is not such fun and kind of a surreal experience, but it also turned into a very exciting and hopeful journey, which is with Huntsman Cancer Institute.鈥
How long have you been participating in the Huntsman World Senior Games, and how did you get involved?
鈥淚 actually didn't start with a team. They have a little program you can call in and get on a free agent list, and then people call you to come play. I got on there initially, and I played with North Dakota the first year. We actually won gold in 50-plus. For the last two years, I played with the team from Hawaii, which is now my team that I play with every year, and we're 55-plus. We also won gold two years ago.鈥
鈥淢y name is Rich Marquez, and I'm here to share a journey I've been on for the last couple of years鈥攁nd also a message of hope.鈥
When and how were you first diagnosed with cancer?
鈥淚n September 2024, I got pancreatitis. They didn't know for sure where it came from, because I'm not a drinker or diabetic. It kept getting worse and worse. We went through different scans and different doctors, and we eventually ended up at Huntsman Cancer Institute with Dr. Marshall Baker. He's a pancreatic cancer surgeon. We still didn鈥檛 have any idea it was cancer鈥e scheduled tests for January 2. As we got closer, it's New Year's Day, and I'm turning yellow, so we鈥檙e really panicky now, because we don't know what's going on, but we know that the scan is coming up the next day. We go in and do the scan, and we have the test results. They did a scope and found a blockage right around my pancreas area, around a bile duct. They put a stent in it, and that relieved all the pressures, and my jaundice went away. They sent it off to the pathologist, and a couple of days later, they determined it was pancreatic cancer."
How did you feel during this process?
鈥淵ou never really know how to feel. It's such a surreal thing. My wife had a feeling and was making sure all the right things were done. But I really didn't grab hold of it until probably four or five months later. It just took me into a place where I was like, 鈥楾his isn't real.鈥 I'm a healthy 57-58-year-old man. I play softball. I exercise. I have good labs. I was just thinking, 鈥榃here did it come from?鈥...And then I actually did have to get a Whipple procedure. It鈥檚 quite an extensive surgery. They removed the tumor. They got it in time. And then we start dealing with reality, because then they come out and they say, 鈥榃e got it, and these are the results.鈥 And then I'm off for two months just recuperating. So, then you have time to sit with it, and it's just, Oh my gosh. 鈥榃hat the heck is going on?鈥欌
How familiar were you with the Whipple surgery before this?
鈥淣ever heard of it before. My wife is probably the best researcher on the planet. She started researching it and explaining it to me. It's interesting. They kind of redo your whole intestine and connect everything. But I felt really good about it. I felt like we were with the right doctor, and he had it all game-planned out. It's perfect timing for doing it. My wife got me a diagram of what they were going to do, and that's what we sent out to all the people that we knew to inform them this is what they're going to be doing, and had them give us thoughts and prayers and energy or whatever they could do toward the surgical team to give them the wisdom and whatever they needed to perform that procedure to their best.鈥
How did your treatment at Huntsman Cancer Institute give you hope?
鈥淭he confidence in the team itself. When you have any questions, they will answer them. They go over labs with you every visit. Dr. Baker was very confident he could get the tumor removed and get that out of the way, and then we could move on to the oncology portion. He's very confident, so it rubs off on you. You feel that energy, and you're saying, 鈥榊eah, this could be done.鈥 Then you start researching his background and his history and his experience, and you're like, 鈥榃e got the right guy for that.鈥 You get these doctors on your journey, and they're just so amazing. Dr. (Conan) Kinsey, my oncologist, actually gave us his cell phone number when we started the oncology part, and he said, 鈥業f you ever have any questions, any concerns, you call me, and if I don't answer right away, I'll call you back.鈥 Well, it's quite a confusing journey, so of course I'm going to call him. And you know what? He lived up to his word. He called me within 10-15 minutes every time, and he answered my questions and explained. It gives you that confidence that these guys got it. They've got our backs. They're researching their stuff. They know what to give, what not to give. They're watching our labs and everything about us. It just gives you hope and knowing that you have the right people for the right jobs.鈥
Do you think research impacted your treatment and outcome?
鈥淚 do. In my case, with pancreatic cancer, it's critically important for the funding for research to continue, because pancreatic cancer rarely gets detected in time. If we can keep doing the research to find that test, or whatever they need to do to get to that point where you could detect it early, it would prevent a lot of heartache. Drs. Kinsey and Baker are both heavily into research. They're teaching and they're researching. They're always coming up with new ideas. They're on the cutting edge.鈥
How would you encourage others to get involved in raising money for cancer research?
鈥淚 would carry a can for money to get it done. Until you really experience it, it's a different ball game. But I do know that at the Huntsman World Senior Games, playing in those sports, and meeting all those people, they're so amazing. It's not just my team, but everyone that's there, from 50 to 90 years old, is all a team. Everybody's kind of like a family and a team, and everybody respects everybody, and everybody knows what people go through at that age.鈥
What helped you, personally, as you went through this journey?
鈥淏efore my surgery, we had about a month to wait. My wife was trying to get me into a prehab mood with walking, exercise, and my protein shakes. We watched a lot of movies and got a lot of rest. One movie that stuck out was Rocky III and the song 鈥楨ye of the Tiger.鈥 That stuck through the whole process of my journey after the surgery in recovering. The movie ended, and my wife told me a story about her grandpa. He was a professional boxer, and in his early 50s, he got Parkinson's disease. He lived with Parkinson's for almost 30 years, but he fought through. It was such an encouraging story. She gave me this little keychain, and I took it into my surgery with me. There are two boxing gloves, and then there's a piece that says, 鈥楤ehind you, all your memories. Before you, all your dreams. Around you, all who love you. Within you, all you need.鈥
I took that into my surgery, and I held on to it for two months. It just gave me a sense of hope that if her grandpa can live over 30 years fighting Parkinson's, I can fight this too. If I had anything to say to anybody who's going to go through this, or has gone through it, it's about a positive mindset. You've got to have positive things, even as hard as it may be. I'm sitting in a chair right now that I slept in for over a month, but right in front of me, my wife strategically placed a little sign, and every time I woke up, it said, 鈥楨verything's going to be all right.鈥 That was the first thing I saw. So, I鈥檇 get up and walk into the bathroom, and there were a couple of other ones that I had in there, like, 鈥楪o be great.鈥 She also put pictures of me and her around the room, but they're all of us looking healthy and smiling. And that was a goal that I had that I could reach. Walking around the house was the same thing. She just had different positive affirmations all over. It's just such a hard journey, because it's such a struggle, you don't know what to expect. Your body's devastated, but you can get through it.鈥