Milwaukee police vet dies after battling rare cancer
Raclaw, 41, had served in force for 21 years
Sebastian Raclaw, a 41year-old Milwaukee police veteran and father of two, has died after a battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
Raclaw retired in April and received congratulatory proclamations from the city, state and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area enforcement program.
During his 21-year career, he rose through the ranks, becoming a detective, sergeant and lieutenant.
“This is certainly not the way I had wanted to retire and finish it out. But sometimes we get challenges thrown at us and we deal with them as they come,” Raclaw told dozens of his colleagues at his retirement send-off.
In 2012, he was diagnosed with a form of cancer called signet ring cell adenocarcinoma, which was based in his abdominal area. Since then, he had undergone several complex surgeries, including the removal of more than 200 tumors, and spent most of 2015 in the hospital, according to an online fundraising page for his family.
Raclaw and his wife, Angela, have two children: Isabella, 9, and Noah, 6. Sean Raclaw, Sebastian’s younger brother, is a Milwaukee Police Department sergeant. In interviews, the family has described an outpouring of love and support from family, friends and their police family.
Raclaw “has shown a lot of us how to get through adversity in some of the most challenging times of anybody’s life,” Assistant Chief Bill Jessup said in April.
Raclaw died Saturday. Visitation is scheduled from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday with a Mass to follow at noon at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, 6060 W. Loomis Road, Greendale.
Memorials can be made to the “Rally for Raclaw” GoFundMe campaign online or the Sebastian Raclaw Abdominal Cancer Fund at The Medical College of Wisconsin.
Raclaw created the abdominal cancer research fund at the college to help find a way to stop this disease.
On the online giving page and across social media, Raclaw’s family has often posted the following quote: “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.”