Golden Eagles 'go gold' for Sarah Rose, a Marquette volleyball senior diagnosed with cancer

 

Updated: 9:24pm on Feb. 24, 2021

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --  After the original matchup with Creighton was postponed because of COVID-19 issues in the Blue Jays program, Marquette has moved its senior day celebration to a Thursday, Feb. 25th matchup with Saint Louis. The team will then hold its Gold 4 Sarah game with Iowa State on Saturday, Feb. 27th. 

The Golden Eagles will take on Saint Louis at 11am on Thursday and Iowa State at 2pm on Saturday. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Published: 9 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2021

This week, Marquette athletic teams are "going gold" for Sarah Rose in a social media campaign for the senior volleyball player diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, this past September.

“It’s never something that you expect to hear or want to hear, that you have cancer,” said Rose.  

Instead of preparing for her senior volleyball season that was already pushed back to the spring because of COVID-19, Sarah had to begin thinking about treatment.

“Initially I was just really heartbroken, I didn’t honestly know what to think at the beginning. A lot of things were racing through my mind,” said Rose. “I was just nervous about what was to come and I had a lot of questions.”   

Rose left Marquette and began a nine-month treatment plan at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, roughly 30 minutes from home. Her parents, Bob and Katie, have been with her every step of the way. Her older siblings, Caroline and Charlie, found a way to make sure others could show support.

“My brother and sister created a video of everyone important in my life sending me some words of encouragement or a funny story or anything to just to kinda take my mind off what I was doing or the treatment I was about to start,” said Rose. “It was like a 50-minute long video of everyone important to me just saying something meaningful or inspiring to me to help me get through what I was going through.”

“It’s been really great to have my family and be around them during this time.”

Of course, being at home in Elmhurst meant she was away from the Golden Eagles.

“One of the more difficult moments of my career to have somebody that you’ve known for so long, to have to watch her or see her get that news and then share it with the team. It was very hard, “ said Ryan Theis, Marquette volleyball coach.

Theis says he’s known Sarah for close to a decade since he attempted to recruit her older sister when he was at Ohio. He and the Golden Eagles have kept Rose connected with the team during practice and matches thanks to Zoom. This week’s going gold for Sarah campaign will feature gold jerseys, shoelaces or bracelets to honor her. The week will end with Rose being recognized on senior day against Creighton Saturday at 1pm on February 20th. The plan is for Rose to suit up and be on the sidelines for both Friday and Saturday matches with the Blue Jays.

“I think she got cheated out of a senior year, so we wanted to do whatever we could to make her feel special, “ said Theis.  

“I’ve had their support since day one. I am just so grateful that they are doing this for me and continuing their love and support,” said Rose.

Sarah continues to get positive results from her treatments. She says her latest scans showed significant shrinkage of the tumor. All of the support she’s received motivated her to share her own story.

“Just like it’s a team fight as much as volleyball is, fighting cancer, you get inspired by people who have done it before and I hope that I can be that for somebody in the future, “ said Rose.

For that future, Marquette Athletics has raised more than $4,000 for the Go for the Goal Foundation. All proceeds go to pediatric patients in the Milwaukee area and beyond.

I’m really honored that a lot of people I know, a lot of family, a lot of family friends have been donating, but some people that I never even met have also been donated which is really awesome to see. I’m just so appreciative of everything people are donating towards this cause,” said Rose.

Rose has also been successful in her schoolwork as well. She graduated early in the fall and is now working towards a graduate degree in corporate communications,n all while undergoing treatments.