Kevin Racks, who fought for Sarcoma Awareness while making a run in the Main Even this year, will experience medically assisted relief tomorrow, as his fight is over.

"Poker family, I am ending my battle with sarcoma cancer tomorrow via medical aid in dying. I can no longer go on, see my you tube video and my blog for an open letter."

Kevin's blog



I'm sure we all want to wish Kevin well on his journey.

May his soul rest in peace and may his family be strong in those terrible times. So long brother! See you there.

Godspeed on your journey Kevin. Much respect for the way you have brought awareness to sarcoma.

I've known three people who got cancer to the lungs.
Once cancer hits the lungs, you won't last long.

A tragedy. A courageous young man.

Cancer sucks. Glad he gets to go out on his own terms though and got to play at the WSOP this year. Should be legal everywhere for anyone with a terminal condition who would otherwise suffer.

"I hate drugs, except for weed"

Kevin

Hard choice Kevin, my thoughts are with you.

Prayers for peace Kevin.

I watched my mom slowly go from lung cancer (and she was a non-smoker).

Spent the last 6 weeks in the same room as she was too weak to get out of bed or even feed herself. Just her smile after sucking a tblsp of juice off a sponge was a moment to be cherished.

Then about a week before she passed she said going on just wasn’t worth it.....i won’t describe the last few days because she was right.

Anything you can do to support hospice services is a silver lining, they were absolute gold.

Inspiring and sobering at the same time. Hope there's some MTTs on the other side.

He wrote the below in one of his previous blogs, the Maas part gave me a good laugh. Godspeed, Kevin.

"I really am no longer healthy but life also isn’t so miserable that its time to push that final stack into the middle. I am short and that big blind is coming around quick but one can hope we have a Kevin Maas or too between me and it."

Tragedy man, full respect to Kevin for how he has handled this, when you think about how so many of us complain and moan about petty **** this puts things into perspective.

Not exactly what you want to read when you're smoking a cigarette.

Medically assisted relief? Well on his journey? I guess manholes are maintenance holes in your vocabulary too.

Horrible someone is dying, I feel for the family. But let's call it what it is. Medically assisted suicide and his "jourmey" is death.

Someone explain to me why some people feel the need to use words to downplay or make it more palatable.

Your beliefs aren't the only beliefs. I agree with the "journey" part. I share that belief. I respect your beliefs and your right to express them.

"Death" is the beginning of a new "life". You have every right to disagree.

RIP Kevin Racks and condolences to those who will miss him.

When its your time to pass on, it should be acceptable for you, your family and friends to use whatever language they want to get through a very difficult time.




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Kevin himself is pretty straightforward in using words like "death" and "dying" to describe his situation. But others are less comfortable with that sort of language and want to use euphemisms, and that's fine.

I'd say the bolded is your explanation right there.

You may not agree with such a need, but some people clearly do, which is why you also see "rest in peace" and "hope there are MTTs on the other side" comments in here (and other places). All coping mechanisms.

But back to Kevin... glad to know the suffering will end soon. And props to Kevin for demonstrating incredible positivity through an equally incredible ordeal during the short time most of us got to know him. I also hope his experience will open the discussion of physician-assisted suicide. As Kevin said in a few different places, he should not have had to move 3,000 miles away from friends and family for the ability to die on his own terms.

The value of positivity in this situation can not be stressed enough. Kevin’s ability to embrace life down the home stretch says a lot about him.

Same with coping mechanisms, we all deal in our own way and anything positive helps dull the grief.

__

Please apply this next time.

There’s a conversation but this ain’t the place.

Happy he gets to decide how he goes. Not an easy decision. Life is crazy.

On a side note Paddleton is a good dramadey that explores assisted suicide for terminal illness. I think it’s still on Netflix.

But he's embracing death, not life. His body isn't ready to quit, his mind is. And trying to dull the grief is a bad idea.

If this was my friend I would say "Don't do it!" You are completely discounting any chance of recovery. FIGHT!!!! You're 36 years old!!!


Doyle Brunson had stage 4 cancer and he's still alive today!

For sure not well translated from German to English but hopefully it's good enough:

"Death lasts the whole life and ends when it occurs."

All the best on the journey, Kevin!!!!!

If I’m looking down the barrel of a 95% chance of a slow, painful, agonizing death, I’d probably choose assisted suicide. Especially if my quality of life will be miserable even if I survive. Hopefully I’m lucky enough not to have to make that decision, but I think people should be afforded one.

Rich have you ever had to endure non-stop agony for months or years on end? Especially knowing that there's no hope of it getting better.

Not to mention burying your family under additional incurred medical debt.

My mom was on dialysis for 5 years, and then had to have open heart surgery. It took all of everything out of her. She fought for several more months but just couldn't keep going. She stopped doing dialysis and faced a painful, long, drawn-out death, that was exponentially harder for my brother and I (including us providing lots of end-life care) than allowing her to go painlessly at the time she chose, with everyone around her that she wanted.

Peace Kevin. Shine on! We won't forget you or your story.

He has passed. Much braver than I.

RIP