Unbroken

Negativity and self-pity were never part of Geoff Shudtz’s constitution, you see.

 

So back in 2017 when the 2001 Collegiate graduate received a stunning diagnosis – Stage 4 pancreatic cancer – he did what anyone who knows him would expect.

 

He summoned all the optimism, resolve, and inner strength he could muster, and he had plenty.

 

He planned his chemo treatments around his family’s annual ski trip to Beaver Creek, CO.

 

He vowed to keep working at the job he had just begun as director of acquisitions and asset management at Dodson Development Partners in Richmond.

 

He bought a license plate for his 1990 BMW that read FCSP, which, translated, means Fight Cancer, Stay Positive, a powerful declaration that became his mantra.

 

He vowed to stand fast despite the odds, steep as they were. And he inspired. Man, did he inspire!

 

“Cancer was not going to get Geoff down,” said his wife Julie. “It wasn’t going to stop him from living life. It was just something that we’d have to bulldoze through.”

 

Bulldoze they did, with heart, soul, passion, and uncommon courage.

 

Until the end? you might ask. No. Not if you mean this past February 19 at 9:36 a.m. when Geoff passed away. Forever. Always.

Love never ends. Death cannot kill what never dies. So it is written.

 

This is their story.

 

Geoff and Julie met in January 2012 in Washington, D.C. where both were living. Seems a group of Geoff’s friends, some from Richmond including his Collegiate classmate Jeff Dunnington, planned a weekend together in D.C.

 

Jeff, a Middle School history teacher at Collegiate, wanted to check out the American History Museum, and his wife Anne invited Julie, her first cousin, to join the crew.

 

“So I spent the day with a bunch of people from Collegiate,” Julie said. “My Geoff was part of that group. He seemed really nice. That was it.”

 

Several months later, the Dunningtons returned to attend a Washington Nationals’ game. They once again invited Julie to join them.

 

“I was working on my master’s at the time.,” Julie said. “I was busy, but I went. What I didn’t realize was that it was a setup. My Geoff had asked Anne and Jeff to invite the cousin.”

 

Turned out Julie and Geoff lived just three blocks apart. They started to hang out.

 

“From there, life really took off,” Julie continued. “We had a great group of friends. Had a ton of fun. Learned a lot. Went through a lot together.”

 

They became engaged in October 2014 and married August 15, 2015.

 

Geoff had earned a B.S. in business administration and management from Boston College and, from September 2005 until May 2007, worked as a strategic account manager for Maxim Integrated in San Francisco. He returned to the East Coast, worked for a while in the restaurant business, then taught math for three years at Brightwood Middle School in D.C. He was still searching for his path.

 

“All these (professional experiences) helped Geoff find what he was passionate about,” Julie said. “It was always real estate and development. He was an artist, and his artistic side needed to be fed.”

 

So in August 2013, Geoff enrolled in an master’s program in real estate and infrastructure at the Carey School of Business at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. A year later, he graduated first in his class.

 

“I didn’t even know that (his class rank) until an academic award arrived in the mail,” Julie said. “He doesn’t talk about that kind of thing. Very typical Geoff.”

 

From November 2014 until September 2017, he worked as an acquisitions analyst for Alex Brown Realty Inc. in Baltimore.

 

“He really wanted to get into the development side,” Julie said. “We were talking about starting a family. We knew we wanted to come back to Richmond at some point.”

 

As Geoff researched options in his hometown, he connected with Duke Dobson, who owned Dobson Property Management and was planning to expand his business to include development. Geoff offered the right credentials, expertise, and business acumen.

 

He reported for work on October 2. He and Julie moved into their new house three weeks later. Their son Emery was born December 4.

        

“We were on top of the world,” Julie said. “We were very close to family and some of our lifelong friends that lived here. Geoff was starting a job he helped create. We moved into a home we’d live in forever. Yeah, life was good.”

 

But Geoff – mid-30’s, fit, and seemingly healthy – was experiencing back pain. He visited a chiropractor. No success.

 

“Two weeks before Emery was born,” Julie said, “we went to the emergency room the pain was so bad. Got an ultrasound. Everything looked fine. Got a prescription for Prilosec. He felt a little better.

 

“He (later) got another ultrasound. The tech said, ‘Everything looks fine, but there’s a little spot on your liver. I’m sure you’re aware of that.’”

 

They weren’t. They were shocked, incredulous. A subsequent MRI revealed a tumor on Geoff’s pancreas. They received the results the day after Christmas.

 

“We get the diagnosis and meet with our oncologist (Dr. Jennifer Myers at the Massey Cancer Center at VCU Health),” Julie said. “This is one of my favorite memories of Geoff: She’s telling us the regimen of chemo – it’s every other week – and Geoff is counting the weeks.

 

“I ask him, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I want to make sure we’re going to make our ski trip. I want to start chemo so the first week of March is the off week.’

 

“I’m taking all these notes, and Geoff was worried about living life. That set the tone for the battle. He sat in that chair and said, ‘What are we going to do? How are we going to get rid of this?’ The picture of him looking at that calendar and counting out the weeks so defines how he chose to fight.”

 

Life went on, Geoff weathered the treatments, but there were setbacks. Actually, many setbacks.

 

“We never got good news,” Julie said, “but the greatest part about all of that was that it didn’t stop Geoff. He had chemo on his birthday (April 4). I said, ‘Let’s reschedule.’ He said, ‘Why would I not want to give myself a chance for more birthdays?’ We had a party at the hospital. Got a gluten-free cake, passed it out to everyone getting chemo that day, nurses, oncologists.”

 

Though Geoff’s condition deteriorated during the summer of 2018, his spirit remained strong.

 

He began a clinical trial using immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins but learned the day after Labor Day that the treatment wasn’t working.

 

He returned to Massey to begin yet another round of chemo.. He was dealing with significant pain and losing his hair. He developed a blood clot in his leg that made walking difficult and began taking blood thinners. Undaunted, he went to work each day and made it home each evening in time for dinner and to give Emery his bath.

 

“Geoff was so heroic,” Julie said. “We lived for the long haul. Geoff went skiing down Black Diamond in the middle of one of the most aggressive chemo regimens, he played 36 holes of golf while on a clinical trial, he started a new company, he developed three buildings in some of RVA’s most prominent areas.

 

“You just keep going. What other choice do you have? These are the cards we were dealt. The choices are ‘Game on’ or ‘Game over.’ It was ‘Game on’ every day.

 

On October 17, Geoff suffered a stroke. Julie called 9-1-1. Medics transported him to VCU Health where he suffered a second stroke.

 

“He lost his speech and the whole right side of his body,” Julie said. “But again, he was smiling, writing with his left hand, making jokes in the ICU. He always, always, always stayed positive. He regained his speech and movement in his right leg. He was able to eat again. He started to use his right arm again.”

 

Geoff was discharged on October 31 and resumed chemo, but, alas, it proved ineffective. Ultimately, he returned to the hospital for the final time.

 

Julie had spent the night of February 18 at home as other family members remained by Geoff’s bedside. She arrived the morning of the 19^th an hour or so before Geoff slipped away.

 

You’ve done everything possible, Julie quietly told him. I’m so proud of you. I love you. We’ll figure out how to be OK.

He just nodded. He understood.

 

“Geoff had recently become a Christian,” Julie said. “That’s what made him finally at peace. When he took Christ into his life, he was the weakest he’d ever been but the strongest mentally he ever was.

He loved life. He was fighting with every ounce of his being to live. When people say, ‘He lost his battle…’ Geoff didn’t lose. He never gave up.”

 

Seven months have passed. Julie – as well as Geoff’s other family members and myriad friends – are supporting each other and, well, managing. At 32 with an almost two-year-old, she’s doing her best to remain upbeat, focused, and active.

 

“Some days are better than others,” she said, “but there’s still a lot to laugh and smile about. I’m moving forward with Geoff. He’s very much part of our lives. I’m not a single parent. I’m a primary parent.

 

“I will never put Geoff in a box, tie the bow, and put it in the closet. He’s always with me. He’ll always be part of me. That’s never going to change. Love never stops.”

 

Julie and a group of Geoff’s friends recently created the FCSP Foundation to raise funds to support pancreatic cancer clinical research. It’s not a memorial to Geoff, she explains, but a fitting tribute to his inspiring life.

 

“Cancer didn’t change Geoff for the worst,” Julie said. “It changed him for the better. He looked cancer in the eye and said, ‘Not today. Today, I’m going to win.’ He taught me that when things get tough, you have no choice but to be tougher, not because of some great lesson or silver lining that might be at the end but because life is worth fully living.”

     -- Weldon Bradshaw