Ellington

It was a rainy and windy Saturday morning at Green Lake Park, but it seemed nothing could impede the support and love for Andrew Moritz.

Despite a persistent drizzle, over 500 people came to walk and run in the 5K MVP Challenge, an event put on to help raise money and show support for Moritz, a former Washington basketball player who is fighting a rare form of cancer.

“It’s overwhelming,” Moritz said of the support. “People from all parts of my life — high school, banking, college — are here.”

Shortly after Christmas of 2008, the now-33-year-old Moritz was diagnosed with a desmoplastic small-round-cell tumor, an uncommon cancer that aggressively attacks soft tissues, generally in the abdomen.

Moritz, who played basketball at the UW from 1996-1999, has been fighting the rare cancer for almost three years. Only two hospitals in the United States have staff specialists to deal with this type of cancer. His mother, Marilynn Moritz, estimates her son’s annual medical expenses at $1 million.

“It’s really great to do an event like this,” Marilynn Moritz said. “It’s just overwhelming to see our family and friends. So many people love and care for him.”

Between race fees and donations, more than $10,000 was raised through the event and will be directed toward Moritz’s medical expenses, said Adia Barnes, a former Seattle Storm player and current assistant coach for the UW women’s basketball team who worked to organize the race. Donations to The Andrew Moritz Medical Fund can be made at Puget Sound-area Bank of America branches.

For Chris Walcott, who was a teammate of Moritz at the UW and graduated with him in 2000, the outpouring of support is a testament to Moritz’s ability to connect with everyone he meets.

“It’s a reflection of the impact he’s had on people,” Walcott said. “He’s just relational. I look at it, and it’s amazing the number of lives he’s touched.”

Walcott understands what it means to receive an emotional boost when faced with a challenge as intimidating as cancer. His father overcame a struggle of his own with the disease.

“It’s awesome to come out here and to support him,” Walcott said. “It shows a little bit how much he’s meant to me.”

Many of those who gathered on the shores of Green Lake on Saturday had also been affected by cancer.

Marilynn Moritz, a mother of five, was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of this year and underwent successful surgery to remove the tumors in May.

Daniel Shapiro, Moritz’s best friend since 1998, has both watched his father fight cancer and battled it himself.

“My cancer wasn’t nearly as rough as his,” Shapiro said of his best friend. “I can only imagine what he’s going through.”

Now a strength and conditioning coach for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, Shapiro overcame a tussle with throat cancer and now looks to help his friend accomplish the same daunting task.

“Andrew’s been an underdog his entire life. The least we can do is try to help his fight by helping financially and [providing] moral support for him,” Shapiro said.

In fact, when his father died of leukemia in 2002, Shapiro said Moritz provided encouragement. Saturday, Shapiro did the same as he helped organize the event and stayed at Moritz’s side throughout the morning.

“I just wanted to do that tenfold for him,” Shapiro said of returning the support.

That expression was echoed by many others who braved the wind and rain to fortify Moritz in his battle with a disease that is attacking his body but certainly not his spirit.

“Out here in the rain, you can see how much love people have for Andrew,” former Seattle SuperSonics star Slick Watts said.

Watts’ son, Donald, played youth and college basketball with Moritz. The elder Watts befriended Moritz through the years, first through their mutual affinity for basketball and later when Moritz became Watts’ banker.

“He’s always nice and friendly, a young man … so full of life,” Watts said. “Sometimes, God uses people as instruments to bring people together. Even though he’s [going through] pain and suffering, we can look at his life and gain strength.”

Donald Watts said that, while teammates on the UW basketball team for three years, Moritz was a uniting force off the court, but the walk-on from Franklin High School also helped motivate his comrades on the hardwood.

“He got us kicked out of practice quite a bit,” he said with a laugh. “He would always be sneaking behind screens, moving off the ball. He would be out there kicking the first team’s butt.”

Donald Watts also said that Moritz’s passion for the game was never more evident than after the Huskies were eliminated from the NCAA tournament in the Sweet 16 in 1998. Connecticut guard Richard Hamilton knocked down a fadeaway jumper to vault the Big East juggernaut past the UW by one point in the closing seconds.

Although he played sparingly, the loss especially affected Moritz, who put so much energy and effort into the team.

“In the newspaper the next day … they had a picture of the bench. Andrew was front and center,” Watts recalled. “You could just see all the disappointment. It was exemplary of the passion he had for the game and for his guys.”

Just as he put all of his energy into basketball during his playing days, it is apparent that Moritz does the same with his relationships with family and friends.

“I think he gets that the purpose of life, and that what makes life full, is people and relationships,” Walcott said.

Now, Moritz will travel to Langley, B.C., to seek alternative treatment and continue fighting the battle that every doctor thought he would lose long ago, because he has always been one to exceed expectations.

Reach contributing writer Ryan Hueter at development@dailyuw.com.