By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West’s boys basketball team will wrap up its regular season next week before beginning its postseason fight for the Class 5A state basketball championship.
Charger coach Rick Bloomquist will begin his fight against cancer the same week.
Bloomquist confirmed Saturday that he has been diagnosed with Stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma in his lymph nodes and neck and delivered the shocking news to his team in a meeting minutes after the Chargers clinched the Centennial League championship with a 68-40 win over Topeka High Saturday at West.
Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer, characterized by abnormal, accelerated growth of squamous cells.
“I knew the kids had to know,’’ Bloomquist said. “I don’t want this to be about me, but you know how things escalate and rumors get started. I’ve got 32 kids and you’re going to have 32 versions of what’s wrong with my neck, so it’s important that we put this to rest now and get ready for sub-state. I want the newness to wear off.
“It will be a topic and I don’t want people to think I’m sick. I am sick, but I’m not unhealthy sick. I just need to get rid of this cancer. Cancer’s a scary word and you’ve got to respect it. I found out (Friday) I had to start treatment immediately, so it was time to let the kids know.’’
Topeka West boys basketball coach Rick Bloomquist delivered the news to his team that he is fighting cancer minutes after the Chargers clinched the Centennial League championship Saturday at West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Bloomquist, in his ninth season at West, said he had started feeling discomfort in the late fall, but didn’t know what was wrong.
“I started having problems probably in the first part of November or late October,’’ Bloomquist said. “I thought it was just strep throat or something flu-related or COVID-related and I got tested and everything came back negative.
“It was just a weird feeling on one side (left) of the throat and it was just uncomfortable and it didn’t go away. In fact, it started getting worse. Then it started getting in my lower jaw.’’
Bloomquist, who is 66, went to see multiple doctors as well as a dentist before getting the cancer diagnosis. Bloomquist had a consultation with an oncologist Friday to plan his treatment.
He will begin taking intravenous medication this week before beginning an eight-week regimen of radiation and chemotherapy treatments the first week of March, which is also the week of sub-state.
“They said it was cancer three or four weeks ago but I didn’t have the complete prognosis until I met with the oncologist (Friday),’’ Bloomquist said. “It’s Stage 3, which is better than Stage 4 or Stage 5 obviously, but it’s imperative that I get this fixed.
“I don’t want anything to be a distraction for the kids. I don’t want a rah rah thing. I don’t want anything that this is about me because it’s not. It’s about this team and it’s a beautiful team, but you can’t have something just hanging around and not know what’s going on.''
Bloomquist said he has every intention of coaching the Chargers throughout this season and beyond.
“I plan to be there, I plan to be coaching,’’ Bloomquist said “I’ve been in contact with Colin Cathey (Topeka West principal) since Day 1 and obviously I’m finishing this year and I told him I want to be back and my intention is to be back. He was very supportive of that and he understood that.
“No. 1, I told Elijah Brooks’ mom three years ago when she was deciding where to take her son (now a junior) that I would be here for four years, so I can’t lie to her. I think they expect me to be here and I’m going to be here. I don’t know what else to do.’’
Bloomquist said he firmly believes it will be good for him to continue being around the team he loves.
“It’s great medicine,’’ he said. “You have to think positive thoughts and there’s a lot of positive things to think about with this basketball team, a lot of positives.’’
Bloomquist said he has been told that there is “a survival rate between 85 and 90 percent,’’ for squamous cell carcinoma and said he will do everything in his power to beat the disease.
“It’s one of those deals that not just me but as coaches we talk to our kids about how to face adversity, how to face stumbling blocks in your life because you’re going to have them and I’m having one and I’m going to practice what I preach,’’ he said.
“I’m not going to downplay it at all because I have very much respect for people that have cancer much worse than mine. In one sense, I’m pretty lucky because there’s a lot of people that have it worse than I have so I’m trying to stay with that positive, open mind. Basketball’s meant a lot to me my whole life, so you’ve got to stay with what got you to where you’re at.
"If you back off you’re going to lose. I’ve got to be an example for what I believe in and you can’t sit back and feel sorry for yourself. You have to attack it. You have to compete.''
