Waukesha Woman Throwing 1st Pitch at Milwaukee Brewers Game

Sarah Barse was preparing to start her shift as a nurse at Elmbrook Memorial Hospital in February 2009 when she stopped into the emergency room.

She had been feeling crummy and wanted an IV to build her fluid levels up before working her shift.

“I was feeling nauseous,” 31-year-old Barse said. “I couldn’t eat or drink or anything. I knew I was dehydrating myself.”

The hospital did some lab work and one was “super out of whack,” the Waukesha resident said in an interview with Patch this week. The hospital staff conducted more tests and the problem soon became clear.

Barse, who was married eight months before her diagnosis, had cancer. And it was in Stage 4.

“It was everywhere,” Barse said. “It was all over my pancreas, my intestines, my liver. I had no idea that was going to happen.”

As a pancreatic cancer survivor, Barse takes the fight against her illness one day at a time. Constant chemotherapy has been beyond difficult, but she says she has the strong support of her family, friends and especially her husband, Mike Barse.

Mike Barse has been working on a surprise for his wife for awhile, and it’s finally coming to fruition on Sunday at Miller Park. Barse is throwing out the first pitch during the Milwaukee Brewers vs. Miami Marlins game at 1:10 p.m.

Barse, a 2000 graduate of Waukesha West High School, has been a lifetime Brewers fan, attending her first game in early elementary school.

“I was shocked. I had no idea they were considering me,” Barse said. “To find out my husband contacted them to say ‘this is something she really wants to do,’ it’s surprising. I had no idea he did that. … I am super excited,  I have never been on the field before.”

Sunday is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day and Barse’s opportunity to throw the first pitch is being made possible by the Milwaukee Brewers and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in Milwaukee.