Olympian Madeline Musselman Honors Husband Pat Woepse After Fatal Cancer Battle

Madeline Musselman is remembering her late husband. 

Less than a month after the Olympian shared her husband Pat Woepse had died at 31 following a battle with a rare form of cancer called NUT carcinoma, she joined family and friends to celebrate his life at an outing to Newport Beach, Calif.

In addition to a church service, Pat's loved ones honored him with an ocean swim as a tribute to the late UCLA water polo player, who once swam across the English Channel.

"All for you, Pat. All for you," Madeline captioned a Nov. 3 Instagram video. "We love you and miss you. We can do hard things. PW FOREVER."

The 26-year-old—who won gold with her water polo team at the 2020 Tokyo and 2016 Rio Olympics—first shared the news of Pat's passing on Oct. 10.

"No words to describe the ache of missing him" she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the two on the beach. "He was the light of my life and my person. He was my first love and the best husband I could have ever asked for."

She added, "And although it feels heavy and I can't breathe as I sit here typing this out, he is no longer in pain and was so at peace during his last moments. He battled one of the most rare cancers for over a year, never complained, and fought harder than anyone should have to fight for something in their life."

But he'll always be in her heart.

"I love you so much babe," she said. "I will be missing you forever."

Madeline and Pat first met in 2022 and married in October 2023, shortly after learning about his cancer diagnosis.

"All the people that came together to make it happen within four days," Madeline recalled to NBCLos Angeles in August, "it was pretty crazy. We had flowers. We had a church that welcomed us with open arms to marry us. It was just a perfect weekend."

Pat had previously shared that despite his health and the chemotherapy treatments he was undergoing, he was determined to watch his wife compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics—and he did.

"This was my biggest goal, with everything being so unknown," he told NBC. "So pretty emotional, emotional day for me. Couldn't be more thrilled to be here to support Maddie and the team.

And while the couple wanted to keep many aspects of their lives private, the athletes shared their hope that by being open about their story they could be an inspiration to others dealing with difficult situations.

"We're sharing our story not for people to feel sorry for us or feel bad for what we're going through," Madeline said. "If anything it's for inspiration and that you can get to the other side of things With the people that are right next to you, we hope for that."

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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