3-car crash claims Montegut woman
December 6, 2012
Coleman honored by the SEC
December 11, 2012
Houma native Ross Mullooly woke up the morning of Nov. 10, 2010 a perfectly normal 19-year-old college student.
By sunset of that day, his life was turned upside down and spun inside-out.
He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
“When you’re told something like that, life just sort of stops for a minute, you know?” Ross said remembering the day of his diagnosis. “I just immediately shifted from a college kid to wanting to know my chances and wanting to know what I was going to have to go through.”
Ross has been fighting the disease since his diagnosis – a constant battle that continues today.
More than two years into his fight, Ross has decided he wants to punch back and raise awareness of the deadly disease.
The 21-year-old has created The Ross Mullooly Project – a non-profit charitable organization with a purpose to raise money for organizations that assist cancer patients and their families.
The organization’s jewel will take place Saturday at the Houma Courthouse Square at 10 a.m. with a 5K run, blood drive, silent auction, raffle and concert.
Ross said it’s the least he can do as he seeks to help others through his own journey to beat the disease.
“I’m just looking forward to eventually being able to beat it,” Ross said. “And when I do, I look forward to getting back to a normal life. I just wanted to give back and hopefully inspire other people out there to keep pushing and keep fighting.”
Mullooly opened up about his battle this week and shared his story. He said the ups and downs are difficult, but he remains positive as he pushes into the future.
“Sometimes, there’s no other choice but to be positive,” Ross said.
Organization, work ethic, athletics guide Ross’ life
Two constants have guided Ross Mullooly’s life from birth.
The first is a goal-driven, ambitious personality.
Ross’ mother Monica Mullooly said she remembers her son’s childhood – a time when Ross would keep running to-do lists of everything he would want to accomplish in any situation.
“Ross has always been a goal setter,” Monica said. “He sets them and constantly reminds himself what needs to be done. In high school, he would even type them up. He’d maybe include a little saying in his list that helps you try. Nobody else in our family does that, so I always thought that was interesting about Ross.
“Maybe he’d want to drop time in a swim or maybe he’d want to run faster in this race coming up. … It’s like he’d visualize it and then he’d work hard toward it and sooner or later it would happen for him. I’ve always thought that was amazing about my son.”
Ross’ mother hinted at it in her statement – her son has also always loved athletics.
From his early childhood, Ross has been an active athlete. He participated in cross country, track and swimming in high school.
He also was a successful water polo player as a youth and traveled the South in that sporting venture.
“I’ve always loved sports,” Ross said. “That’s pretty much what I did growing up. Doing two sports at one time is pretty much what took up most of my time. Away from that, I was just like any other normal guy. I’d try and hang out with my friends whenever I could. But I didn’t always have a ton of time for that, because I was almost always occupied with a sport.”
Through athletics, Ross also found great levels of success.
At Vandebilt Catholic High School, Ross was All-State in both cross country and swimming.
Monica said she is not surprised at Ross’s accomplishments because he has an admirable work ethic.
“My son is not afraid to work hard,” she said. “He’s never been one afraid of putting in the effort – no matter how difficult – to make the things he wanted to accomplish a reality. He’s just one of those kids who just never quits.”
The mother shared a story of Ross’s cross country training regimen – a round-trip jog from South Terrebonne High School to Bayouland YMCA in Houma – a trek that totals more than 15 miles.
“It’s funny because the people from the Westside would say, ‘Hey, I saw your son running today,’” she said with a laugh. “They were just amazed that he’d be out there running and doing that. He was always just training for something. My son has always been trying to be prepared for something or another I guess is what I’m trying to say.”
For his efforts and successes, Ross was given the opportunity to extend his athletic career beyond high school with the Nicholls State cross country team.
Once there, he believed he was training for a four-year college cross country career.
Instead, he was about to tackle the most difficult fight of his young life.
Diagnosis matures Ross
Ross arrived in Thibodaux and immediately was blossoming as a college athlete.
In 2009 as a freshman, he competed in all five of the Colonels’ meets, turning in his career-best time of 28 minutes, 50 seconds in the 8K run at the Southland Conference Cross Country championships.
As a sophomore in 2010, Ross built on his 2009 success and finished 38th at the Choctaw Open and 12th at the McNeese State Relays.
But during that season, both Ross and his parents began to notice changes within his body.
Ross said he was losing weight and was often sleepy.
“They couldn’t figure out what was going on,” Ross said. “I was back and forth to the doctor for the entire fall semester, pretty much. I was losing weight, but I was eating a lot. I was sleepy, but I had slept all day. It was all just a big puzzle.”
Ross said he continued to run the remainder of the 2010 season as doctors scrambled to try and find his cure.
“They sort-of thought it was Mono, which would make sense with a kid that age living in the dorm and everything,” Monica said. “But after a while, it was like – OK, maybe this isn’t Mono and maybe this is something worse.”
“I didn’t have an idea – honestly,” Ross said. “I just thought it was something that my body was going through, so my plan was to tough it out and keep running.”
As the symptoms continued to linger, Monica said the family shifted Ross’ care to Dr. Joseph DuPont, who ran a series of tests on the then-19-year-old boy.
All of the physician’s initial tests on Ross came back negative, leaving just one more – a colorectal screening.
It was the first time Ross had taken such a procedure because of the very small percentage of 19-year-olds who experience colon problems.
Ross was in that small percentile.
On Nov. 10, 2010, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer after his scan showed that he had a tumor.
Both mother and son said the news served as the end to Ross’ childhood and the beginning of his adult life.
“This was the same day that his elementary school, St. Matthew’s, burned down,” Monica said. “Looking back and reflecting on it, it’s almost like a blow to someone. To me, it’s like his whole childhood went away that day and he was just forced to grow up immediately. The place that he was so comfortable at as a kid was now totally gone and then now, he’s entering into this big fight on the same day.
“But Ross has a lot of faith. And in his mind, you could just see that he didn’t plan on going anywhere right away.”
“I don’t think anyone is ever mature enough to go through this type of situation at any age,” Ross added. “But you mature while you’re going through it through the people that you meet and that you see. You have no choice but to grow up when you’re faced with those types of circumstances.”
Cancer will not define 21-year-old
After being diagnosed initially, Ross said he under went a round of chemotherapy and then had a few surgeries.
“I had complications in between the two surgeries, so I sort of had a rough time with that,” Ross said. “Then after that, I got anemic. But from there, I gradually started to work back.”
Ross’ fight progressed so far that he was able to return to school at Nicholls.
But his return lasted just two weeks.
A screening yielded that his cancer had come back and had now spread into his spine.
“It’s come back to a place where they can’t go surgically,” Ross said. “So there’s just hoping to knock it out with chemotherapy treatments.”
Chemo is the stage of the fight Ross is currently facing. He said he was warned from the beginning that the radiation-based treatments yield different experiences for everyone involved.
He said his chemotherapy is difficult. He said it makes his hands ache and it affects his nerves in his throat.
“There are some days that go by where I can’t eat solid foods,” Ross said. “It’s hard sometimes. It’s not a fun experience. It makes you feel bad. But you just have to push past it and keep moving forward.”
Moving forward is something the Mullooly family always reminds Ross to do.
Monica said since Ross’ diagnosis, she and her husband James have done their best to make sure their son has lived as normal a life as possible given the circumstances.
She said on Ross’ 21st birthday, they took him to a casino – anything to try and give him the same experiences as everyone else.
“We want Ross to live,” Monica said. “We want him to be as normal as possible. If that means encouraging him to go get a beer when it’s his 21st birthday, then that’s fine. People in Ross’ situation can’t always stay pent up all of the time. We want him to experience life the same ways that anyone else would.”
Through that positive environment around him, Ross said he grew inspired and found the desire to fight back.
It was then that he and his family created the Ross Mullooly Project – a non-profit organization with the simple goal of fighting cancer.
Even while sometimes under going chemotherapy, Ross said he found the time and energy to create a silent auction to raise money.
When the community got wind of the auction, the event “blew up” and became a full-fledged day-long festivity.
Weekend of fun set for Houma
“It was never supposed to be this big,” Ross said with a laugh when asked to comb through the event’s agenda. “It was supposed to be just a small fundraiser.”
With the help of a lot of family, friends and neighbors along the way, this weekend’s event has blossomed into a special day for all.
At 10 a.m., The Bayou Runner’s Association will host a 5K run beginning at the Houma Courthouse to benefit the Ross Mullooly Project.
While there, a silent auction will take place and also a blood drive.
A Blue Dog signed print, Saints and Hornets tickets, Beats by Dre, a 26-inch TV, gift cards and more are going to be available in the auction.
Ochsner will also donate $10 to Hope Lodge for every person who gives blood at the event.
While the festivities are taking place, Ross said those in attendance can enjoy the sounds of local band Bandit, while enjoying gobs of donated food that will please the taste buds of the crowd.
The 21-year-old had a long list of people to thank for help with the event – a list that includes his family, friends, neighbor Natalie Bergeron, Vandebilt Catholic and many others.
He said he is “absolutely wowed” by the support the event has received.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It just shows how strong our community is that we can pull something like this off and put something like this together.”
His mother agreed and said she never realized how strong her son’s reach extended.
“As a mom, you know your son has friends and everything, but you never truly understand how big the web actually is,” Monica said. “There are people who I haven’t seen since Ross has been out of high school who have dropped everything that they were doing and volunteered their time to help.”
Ross will obviously be unable to physically take part in any running at the event because he is undergoing a six-month cycle of chemotherapy to fight the tumors on his spine.
He said there will be a day that normalcy returns to his life – he “has faith” he will beat the disease.
“I’m going to beat it,” he said. “This won’t always hold me down.”
The mom agreed and added the pride she has in her son for his courage throughout his fight.
“We always knew he was strong,” Monica said. “But Ross is a hard worker, a winner and a champion. He’s always been that way.”
Nicholls State cross country runner and Houma native Ross Mullooly grinds toward the finish line during a cross country race in 2010. The former Vandebilt Catholic star is currently undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer. He is aiming to inspire others with the Ross Mullooly Project – a non-profit organization designed to raise money to help fund cancer research.
