Friends show love for Rick Puskar

BY JEFF OLIVER

For MVI Sports

The words Rick Puskar’s friends use to describe him paint a very clear picture of the personality of the Carroll Township resident.

Those descriptions include caring, grounded, honest, loyal, competitive, optimistic, awe-inspiring, phenomenal, strong-willed, dynamic and strong in faith.

Puskar, who is one of Waynesburg University’s all-time greatest basketball players and most recently was a volunteer basketball coach at Charleroi, has been in a battle for his life, although to see him you would never know it.

Over the last two years, he has been suffering from a rare form of blood cancer as well as amyloidosis. The latter is the illness that claimed the life of former Pittsburgh Mayor Richard Caliguiri.

The illnesses have ravaged his immune system to the point that he had to literally live part of the past two years in a bubble to not pick up any illnesses — things that would be nothing more than a bug to most people, but could be deadly to him.

Puskar has faced many painful treatments during his fight, including transfusions, various forms of chemotherapy and other procedures.

While he admits the road has been extremely rough and bumpy, Puskar says his cancer is currently in remission.

As for the amyloidosis, he said, “There is no cure for that, but I keep fighting it with regular chemo treatments.”

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