Prayers Needed

[wadesworld]

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/201854001.html

I had the honor of coaching Greg last year in club volleyball.  We went out to California in the middle of June last summer and Greg played and then started having some leg pains after the tournament.  He went in for an MRI and the day before we were supposed to fly out for Nationals (last week of June) and they told him they found a cancerous tumor on his leg.  After 9+ months of surgery to remove parts of the bone and chemo treatments Greg was told he was cancer free just a few weeks ago.  Then last week they told him they had found another spot of cancer on his leg.  When he went in for the surgery on Wednesday they found more cancer throughout his body and could not perform the surgery.  The cancer is spreading irregularly and he and his family need prayers.  I figured I would reach out to the MUScoop community.  He's a great kid and is only 14 years old...is a freshman at Marquette High this year.

http://www.gofundme.com/GregVonRueden

If anybody has the ability/willingness to donate money to his cause, the website can be found above.  Thanks for the prayers, they're needed for a great, strong, courageous kid.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Thanks for sharing.  Prayers up

[77ncaachamps]

Prayers said. Stay strong young man.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Tell him the MU community has him in their prayers and thoughts
God Bless!

[LloydMooresLegs]

Prayers to Greg and his family.

[Goose]

Definitely will be added to daily prayers. WIsh him the best of luck.

[wadesworld]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

[wadesworld]

For anybody who may be interested (just copy and pasted from elsewhere)...

For those of you who haven't heard the story yet I coached a kid on our 14s team last year and a couple days before we left for Nationals he was diagnosed with bone cancer. After going through chemo and multiple surgeries he was told he was cancer free back in March. 2 weeks later he was told they found more cancer and that it is aggressively spread through his body in a rare way. Our club set up an event for him (along with multiple other things to raise funds and, hopefully, spirits) for next week Thursday (June 6). They are setting up a big tailgate and then going to the Brewers game that night. The tailgate starts at 5:00 PM and tickets are $23. I'm going to get a group of tickets so let me know if you want me to buy you (and your friends?) a ticket. If you want to buy your own you can go to this website... http://www.burghardtsportinggoods.com/Product/33719/Yellow_for_Greg_Brewer_Bash_Tickets.aspx
Sales end tomorrow. Thanks!

[NavinRJohnson]

Tough couple days at Marquette High (and beyond). This young man passed away today.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Tough couple days at Marquette High (and beyond). This young man passed away today.

Indeed.  The Von Rueden family is a great family.  Very sad.  RIP

He was just in San Diego a few weeks back for make a wish trip to Sea World and San Diego Zoo. 

[hairy worthen]

Tough couple days at Marquette High (and beyond). This young man passed away today.

Very sad.  This type of news always stuns me and makes one think what is really important.

Prayers to the family.

[wadesworld]

Indeed.  The Von Rueden family is a great family.  Very sad.  RIP

He was just in San Diego a few weeks back for make a wish trip to Sea World and San Diego Zoo. 

Yup.  They were surprised Greg was able to make it.  Was not doing well.  He's in a better place now.  Hopefully the family and his friends can find peace soon.

[LloydMooresLegs]

So sorry.  It must be some small comfort for the families to have the Marquette High community for support.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Picture from the service

[wadesworld]

Picture from the service

That picture was actually from the Run/Walk they had last spring at Holy Apostles.  It was a cloudy, cold, windy day last Thursday.  Beautiful mass though.  One of his older brothers and his father spoke right after the opening prayer.  Very strong.  Awesome message.  His dad talked about "the dash of life" and explained that when people look at his tombstone they'll see "(birth date)" DASH "(day died)" and think "That's too bad, this kid lived too short.  But the dash between it is what determined that.  Talked about the outpouring of love they received from everyone, especially the volleyball, HA, and MUHS communities and how it was so overwhelming they didn't even know how to respond to it and accept it all.  He said the greatest thing Greg did was bring an entire community together and people from the West coast to the East coast (major college volleyball programs were taking pictures with signs for "Yellow For Greg" from every part of the country, sending signed volleyballs - the USA Men's National Team did that too).  So very true.  The wake was scheduled to go from 3-7 and went from 3-almost 9, with people waiting outside for 2 hours.  The pastor's homily was really good too.  Almost Jimmy V-like, talking about all the things cancer CANNOT do (end friendships, stop love, etc. etc.).  Sad but great.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Wade...thanks for the clarification.  I heard the service was very nice.  I knew his dad back in the day when my ex-girlfriend rented the upstairs of a duplex he owned.  My ex-girlfriend is very close to Anne Von Rueden.  Saw the photo on Anne's Facebook page. 

[wadesworld]

Wade...thanks for the clarification.  I heard the service was very nice.  I knew his dad back in the day when my ex-girlfriend rented the upstairs of a duplex he owned.  My ex-girlfriend is very close to Anne Von Rueden.  Saw the photo on Anne's Facebook page. 

No problem.  It's a great picture.

[wadesworld]

By the way, my sister is a Xavier grad.  Myself (coaching) and my 2 youngest brothers (playing) had a big tournament down at the McCormick Place in Chicago 2 weekends ago.  Xavier was playing at DePaul that Monday (I believe? I might be a day off with my whole chain of events) so on Sunday night they held a mass for Xavier alums in the area.  James Farr, a sophomore who is getting 7 points and 5 rebounds per game for them, talked during the mass about his father going through a fight with cancer last year.  My sister got to talk to him after the mass and brought up Greg (we had heard earlier in the day that things were not going well and that it was just a matter of time), and he asked her if he could send Greg a message.  My sister recorded him on her phone talking for about 30 seconds just telling him to keep fighting etc.  Very cool.  Hard not to root for a kid like that.