Since 2017, Island Fish Company bartender Rachele “Roach” Kruse has poured thousands of drinks for locals and visitors alike. Now, as she battles Stage 4 cancer, the Marathon community is prepping to pour more than a little back.
In September 2025, Kruse’s coworkers, including the Island’s manager Amber Klein and fellow bartender/best friend Tiffany Fossum, noticed the perpetual “worker bee” just wasn’t herself, calling out sick over three weeks from shifts she would never typically give up.
“She came in to do her orders one day, and I’d just never seen her like that,” said Klein. “We took her to the doctor that day, and it all just snowballed from there.”
Within two weeks of her first appointment, Kruse would undergo two days of radiation. And on the third day, she was in the operating room for brain surgery, diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma. While the tumor in her brain was removed, Kruse now fights a daily battle with lesions in her brain, lung and liver.
“She’s doing immunotherapy once a month (now), and they did tell her at one of her last appointments that the lesions are shrinking and the therapy is doing its job,” said Fossum. “So that gave her a little boost, and she really is in good spirits.”
Nevertheless, the treatment and ongoing fight mean that Kruse hasn’t returned to work in nearly five months. And for local fundraising guru Andy Sharf, that meant one thing: “It’s that time again.”
“I’ve only met Roach a few times over the years, but a lot of my really good friends love her, and that’s enough for me,” Sharf told the Weekly.
“She’s just a goofy person, and there’s not a time when she’s not fun,” said Klein. “One year we had a Christmas party, and (Tiffany) dared her to pull the fire alarm, and she did it.”
“She has an infectious laugh and a crazy personality,” said Fossum. “In the last three years, she lost both her parents, and in year three she got melanoma. But even through all that, she just stays positive and she’s strong. She said to me, ‘I know that this therapy is the only thing that’s going to give me more years, so I’m going to fight through it as long as I can.’”
For the first time, Sharf won’t be behind the bar for one of his benefits, an all-day fundraiser set to run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. this Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Island Fish Company. Instead, he’ll be in the kitchen.
The staples of “Roll it Up for Roach Day” are the same locals have come to expect: 32 pork butts smoked Carolina-style available for lunch with full fixings, live music and a boatload of silent auction items – everything from AirBnBs in Park City, Utah to Marathon hotel stays, fishing charters and gift cards. Tips to bartenders go straight to the cause.
Not satisfied with just one “big ticket” raffle item, Sharf secured three: a pair of e-bikes given at cost for the cause by Marathon Bike Works, a Harley Davidson motorcycle donated by Fossum’s husband Jesse, and, as always, a golf cart.
One silent auction item in particular might look familiar, doubling its value in the fight against cancer: a brand new Yamaha VX WaveRunner, previously the headliner in Sharf’s 2024 fundraiser for another local cancer patient, Mallory Martin.
With only two hours on the engine, Sharf said the winner of last year’s raffle, Norman Beumel, approached him about “selling” the jetski back when he saw it had the chance to do good once more. His price? Unbeatable.
“He donated the jet ski and a trailer for $1 and a case of Florida Keys Spiny Hopster IPA,” Sharf said.
A GoFundMe established by Fossum has already raised $22,660 for Kruse, with more pouring in each day. And with more than $700,000 total raised across 11 previous events, Sharf said he’s hopeful Saturday has a chance to break his record of $129,000 in a single event.
Fossum and Klein said the weekend is a heartwarming example of karma paying dividends for Kruse, who previously worked as a bartender for Fossum’s husband in Minnesota before moving down to work at the Island.
“(Jesse) owned a motorcycle shop up there, and he’d build a bike and they’d do a benefit and raffle the bike off to benefit a camp for underprivileged children,” Fossum said. “She’d always bartend those events, and now it’s coming full circle that we’re doing something for her.”
