Lake Mills rallies around student with bone cancer
Jun. 23—When someone is down, others may be inclined to help them out. Such is the case with Joel Koch, first-year varsity baseball coach at Lake Mills High School.
Koch and his wife, Jennifer, started a GoFundMe page for one of his players, Caycee Barrett, who was recently diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a form of bone cancer.
"I'm not the type of person, and my wife's not the type of person, to just sit back and let a family go through something like this and not do anything about it," he said.
Describing Barrett as a "great kid" with a good work ethic focused on playing baseball, Koch noted Barrett was a great source of inspiration who helped him adjust to coaching.
"I love the fact that he's still here, he's still fighting, he still wants to be here," he said. "A lot of people would just give up and say, 'The heck with it.'
"I don't think that giving up is in Caycee's vocabulary. The spirit of this kid ... it moves me every day to wake up. If I wake up and I'm tired, I just think about what Caycee's got going on and it's like, 'Hey, it's really not that bad.'"
The GoFundMe page, something Koch started two weeks ago and has "taken off," will stay active through the start of October.
And word of Barrett's situation has led the community to take action.
Barrett was first diagnosed in mid-April.
Besides the GoFundMe — titled Caycee Barrett and family — the baseball team started collecting donations at all Lake Mills boys baseball home games beginning in early June.
"One of the first home games we did a pass-the-bucket, and some of the varsity guys walked around and asked for a donation from people attending the home games, including the softball game," Koch said. "We did really well that first night we did it."
According to Koch, the bucket will remain at the concession stand during the rest of the team's home games.
Between the GoFundMe and donations, the Kochs have raised over $15,000 through June 21, well over their original goal of $2,000.
People can also drop cash or checks off at Farmers Trust & Savings Bank at 105 N. Lake St. Make check payable to Caycee Barrett. They can also reach out to Koch at 319-415-0501.
"The town has been great, people have been great," he said.
Barrett has been in treatment at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines for around a month and still has six more weeks before any tumor could be removed. Following that, he'll still face 16 more weeks of treatment.
Despite all of this, he still tries to play with the varsity baseball team whenever possible.
"Some days it's tough [playing], you feel miserable, but you still gotta go out there and show up for your team," Barrett said.
He was also paradoxically surprised and not surprised by the town's response.
"I'm not the type of guy to just ask people for donations and anything, but knowing this community, they're there to support 110%," he said.
During the last game of the year next Wednesday night, Barrett and a mystery guest will shave Koch's head.
Barrett also thanked the community for their support.
"I couldn't be any happier for all the support," he said. "It really keeps me going."
