In Memory of Rick Willis - For Karina's Future

On Friday, March 10th, 2023, my brother Richard (Rick) Willis lost his life due to heart failure at 49 years old and his daughter, Karina, lost her “Tickle Monster” Daddy.

Rick was a longtime member of the San Diego media community, working with KUSI-TV as a sports anchor from 2002 to 2018 and a beloved part of the Prep Pigskin Report, helping mold it into what it is today. Rick had a lust for life and made it his life’s work to bring happiness and brightness to the lives of others. When you met Rick, you knew you had a friend with an empathetic ear who would remember small details of conversations had, following up later with conversations or gifts pertaining to what you shared with him. He constantly thought on a large scale, hoping that he could give back anywhere he felt he was called, or a need could be met.

Over the course of the last 2 ½ years, Rick, his partner in parenthood, Jessica, and Karina have been on an unenviable journey. In the summer of 2020, Karina, was diagnosed with Philadelphia-Positive Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (Ph+ ALL). Throughout this time Karina has been an incredible cancer warrior – battling for her life, all while shining her incredible spirit of wanting to help others, as well. She was the purpose behind many of Rick’s ideas that came to fruition. During Karina’s cancer journey, the family found themselves waiting for what would be lifesaving blood transfusions, only to have to wait due to a shortage of blood supply not only in San Diego County but also across the United States. Rick joined forces with the San Diego Blood Bank to use his ability for community outreach, holding several blood drives with record-setting blood donations, and thus Karina’s Krew was born.

Words cannot begin to express the gratitude our family has for the sheer number of people that have reached out sharing their love and support for the family since my original post of Rick’s passing. Thankfully a couple of weeks before Rick’s passing, they were given the news that Karina is cancer free – one less thing to weigh on their minds and hearts. Jessica is doing a fabulous job being in the present with Karina, ensuring that her current needs are met and helping her through the insane grieving process.

Unfortunately, at the time of Rick’s passing, he had no life insurance that could be left as a legacy for Karina’s future, and due to the fact that Rick had been unemployed since the move from San Diego to Philadelphia, he had no real savings to be passed along.

The purpose of this GoFundMe is to help ensure that Karina’s future is bright. All funds raised will be directed to a Custodial Trust our father and I are setting in place for the benefit of Karina’s future education and needs. Any support that you can provide is incredibly appreciated.

If you’d like to donate somewhere else or help in other ways, please consider any of the following wonderful organizations: monetary donations to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHoP), Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego, San Diego Blood Bank; donating blood to your local Blood Bank; volunteering your time to any of these organizations.

So many wonderful stories have been shared about Rick. We would love to be able to collect them all so that we can make a book for Karina to help preserve memories of how special her father was to this world. If you have a story to share, won’t you please share it with us? Emails can be sent to [email redacted].

Rick’s purpose in life was to try to make the world a better place in any way possible, even in the most difficult of times. If we all focus a small percentage of our time or resources to do the same, we can make a huge difference.