Greece native, battling cancer, helps others doing the same

Greece, Rochester, N.Y. — World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day was Thursday.

It comes with a reminder of the families in the Rochester community who are dealing with it.

As of last month, that includes Rick Schiffhauer of Greece.

“I think it was Oct. 1st that my doctor called and said, ‘It’s cancerous,'” he said. “I was on the phone, and I just dropped the phone. I was like, ‘Wow.'”

Soon, Schiffhauer, a businessman – and family man – learned it was stage IV.

“They gave me the average lifespan of people being one year,” he said, “and I was just floored. And my wife and I had many emotional discussions after that and life forever changed at that point.”

But Schiffhauer says he’s never spent time worrying about tomorrow for fear of losing today.

The first step was to get back to coaching his daughter’s softball team as soon as possible and to begin whatever treatment he needed.

“And I feel good about helping people. That’s my focus,” he said. “Win, lose, or draw, I’ll be ok . God forbid the worst happens, I’m going to make a difference before then.”

Schiffhauer, who is being treated by doctors at Wilmot Cancer Center and in Arizona, owners a sports supply business.

He’s using the Smash It Sports Facebook page to raise money to fight pancreatic cancer.