Richmond Kickers head coach Darren Sawatzky and his wife Virginia (Ginny) found out she had breast cancer on Oct. 11, 2022.
The Kickers had recently returned from a playoff game against Forward Madison FC in Madison, Wisconsin. They won 1-0.
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Darren was at practice, Ginny recalls. They had been waiting for confirmation from tests after doctors had discovered a tumor a few weeks back. The results came back that day, Oct. 11, 2022. She drove to City Stadium to deliver the news.
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"I showed up, and he's like, 'What are you doing down here? Did you get your results? How'd it go?'" She says.
The couple walked across the City Stadium field, holding hands, and she told him that "(she) was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer, two different types, two different sizes, and (that they needed) to meet right away with the oncologist."
As difficult as it was, Ginny knew she had to be "the bull and run through the storm, put (her) head down and go through it."
And she knew she had all the support she needed in Darren.
Darren remembers this time as a difficult one, yet, one where he knew exactly what he had to do: show up for his wife.
"I love soccer, soccer's my life, but, you know, the minute that something happened to her, all of our focus was to make sure she was OK," Darren said.
Family, friends, and everyone on the Richmond Kickers squad showed up in support of the Sawatzkys.
"The Kickers, all the players, the front office, the owner; everybody's been super supportive of her and everything through the fight," Darren recalled.
Ginny knew she had her village's support, but knew it was her fight, and she would keep going.
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"Now Darren and I, the way we live our lives is like I said, no wasted days, no wasted moments, and he was a huge support to me, but at the same time, it was my battle, my fight," Ginny said.
Ginny and Darren's love story is deeply intertwined with sports. They've known of each other since 2005, but never talked at first, up until they were invited to ex-Seattle Sounder Danny Jackson's wedding in November 2009.
At the time, Darren was the Sounders' assistant coach, and Jackson was one of his players. Jackson also knew Ginny because she worked in real estate and had sold him a house.
"It was a sit-down dinner of about 450 people at the top of the Hyatt and Danny sat us next to each other," she says.
And so, thanks to what Ginny calls, "forces of nature," they talked for the first time, and got to know each other. Even though it was a positive interaction, they wouldn't talk to each other again until months later, when Ginny and her daughter Kayla attended a Sounders game.
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Ginny recalls that she and Kayla sat at the very top of the CenturyLink Field, and it was freezing. Her daughter asked her if she knew anyone who could get them better seats, and she remembered Darren -- the Sounders assistant head coach at the time -- and texted him without knowing if he would respond in the middle of the game.
To her surprise, he did, and arranged for her and Kayla to get seats in the Sounders' suite, where they watched the remainder of the game. And that's when their love story began to write itself. They got married in January 2012.
One of the things Darren and Ginny bonded over was their love for family. They had both previously been married and came together as one big family; Darren with his two children, and Ginny with her three children and adopted niece. Ginny likened their family to The Brady Bunch.
Despite the challenges of having a large family and navigating busy careers, they made it work.
"It was a crazy life, but we're good partners, we had everything down to a science. We would say hashtag, no wasted days, no wasted moments, and we try to live by that," Ginny said.
Ginny and Darren also bonded over their experiences overseas. Ginny, earlier in life, moved around because her father was in the U.S. military and was stationed in Germany and Switzerland. Darren traveled quite a bit during his Major League soccer career that took him to places like England and Mexico.
After over a decade together, moving from Seattle to Tucson, and now Richmond, the Sawatzkys have a large family including four grandchildren and one more on the way. One of their greatest strengths is their love for each other, and their dedication to building a meaningful and adventurous life despite what comes their way.
Through our lens: Richmond Kickers
Julia Mouketo
(804)-649-6254
@juliamouketo on twitter
Julia Mouketo
Sports Reporter
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