Our sympathy is extended to the family of Marquise Reynolds

Feb. 8—Marquise Reynolds had many passions in life, from his faith and helping those who are experiencing homelessness to sports and filmmaking.

Those are just some of the attributes his family will miss about him.

After an eight-year-long battle with ongoing liver failure and two transplants, Marquise Reynolds died Jan. 25 at the age of 23.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 6, 1999, he was an outgoing and kind child who would go out of his way to help anyone he could, according to his mother Dawn Reynolds.

A Life of Love and Giving After moving to Onalaska, Marquise Reynolds continued to live at home with his mother and two siblings, who also have special medical and mental health conditions. His family then moved to Shelton in order to shorten the drive to the hospital he was being treated at in Seattle.

“It didn’t matter how sick he was, he wanted everybody to be happy. And he would always worry about my older son, saying, ‘is he gonna do something with his life?’ I would always tell him, ‘Marquise just leave Deshawn alone, just stop,’ because (Deshawn) is autistic, but he would still always be so concerned,” Dawn Reynolds said.

According to his grandmother, Kathleen Reynolds, Marquise and Deshawn were only separated by 11 months and basically grew up together like twins.

Family was always paramount in Marquise Reynolds’ life and his grandfather, Kay Reynolds, would call him every morning to talk. Kathleen Reynolds explained that even after his death, his grandfather still calls Marquise Reynolds’ phone every morning.

“His grandpa has emphysema, asthma and COPD, so he’s not in the best of health,” Kathleen Reynolds said. “To be honest with you, I probably saw him going before Marquise, but God had other plans.”

Marquise Reynolds had a giving soul and would even keep Pop Tarts in his mother’s car to hand out to homeless people.

“Anything he had, he would give. If he had a couple bucks, he gave it to them. If we happened to stop at McDonalds or something he’d go, ‘here, I’ll give them what food I got,’ and he would give them his food,” Dawn Reynolds said.

To celebrate his spirit of giving, she donated his clothes after his death.

“He wouldn’t want me to donate them to a Goodwill,” Dawn Reynolds said. “He would want me to give them directly to the homeless and he would be so proud to know his clothes are keeping somebody warm.”

His spirit of giving extended far beyond that. Some years, he would give up his own Christmas gifts in order to give them to families that were in need.

Marquise Reynolds also loved all of the animals in his life, from the multiple service dogs his family kept to his cat, which he meticulously cared for. Kathleen Reynolds recalled how he would always worry about his cat’s care whenever he had to go to the hospital.

“He would make sure everybody was aware of how to take care of that cat,” Kathleen Reynolds said.

His caring and friendly soul impacted the doctors and nurses who took care of him. Liver patients can sometimes not be easy to care for, often due to side effects from alcohol abuse.

“They all would say how much joy he brought to them. Every time he came in they would all be laughing,” Dawn Reynolds said, later adding, “He was always so happy and polite to them, and they just saw him as a bright light coming in every time.”

A Movie Director in the Making As an aspiring director, Marquise Reynolds began to study filmmak ing at Centralia College, but had to stop attending classes due to his ailments. During his time there, he met his best friend, according to Dawn Reynolds.

Even though he only studied there for a short time, Dawn Reynolds explained his old classmates and professors at the college were devastated to learn of his death.

His favorite film was "Elvis," the 2022 biographical drama about the American rock ‘n’ roll star, but he loved true crime and historical documentaries above all else.

“He would actually tell his doctors about movie ideas he had,” Dawn Reynolds said.

Before his liver failure, Marquise Reynolds suffered from mild cere- bral palsy. This fueled his interest in films because while he wanted to play sports, he couldn’t participate due to his condition.

While he never could play sports himself, it didn’t stop him from being a devoted fan, mainly to the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Arizona Cardinals.

Dawn Reynolds added he started to become partial to the Seattle Mariners and the Seattle Seahawks. He even attended a Seahawks game with his grandfather.

In 2016, Marquise Reynolds and his family traveled to Toronto with the help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He was able to meet and talk to José Bautista, a Major League Baseball player who spent the majority of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Bautista signed baseballs and a jersey for him, gifts that will now be passed on to Marquise Reynolds’ nephew Ezra, who just turned 1. Never Losing Hope Even though he never had the best health to begin with, Marquise Reynolds always maintained a positive attitude, something which stood out to his siblings. “He always went out of his way to see how you were doing and wanted to make everyone happy,” his sister Celana Reynolds said. “For all my siblings, we always looked out for each other and stuck by each other’s side. Marquise’s passing hit us hard and we miss him so much. Now we have to figure out how to navigate life without him physically, but I know he’s watching over us in spirit.”

It was at the age of 15 when Marquise Reynolds suffered liver failure due to a rare condition known as drug reactive eosinophilia with systemic symptoms (DRESS). He had just started taking a pair of medications to treat acne, but the drugs triggered the DRESS and the subsequent liver failure.

Marquise Reynolds underwent emergency liver transplant surgery in February of 2015, but the new liver eventually started to fail.

Doctors conducted a second transplant in 2019, but it also started failing within the first month following the surgery. DRESS caused the first failure but doctors never could figure out why the second liver failed.

While many possible donor livers became available over the past year, none of them were the right size for him. Despite the multiple surgeries and failed transplants, Dawn Reynolds said her son never lost faith.

“He was still so positive about it. If he didn’t get (a possible donor liver), it was, ‘well it wasn’t meant for me, God has another one available.’ He always still struggled with the fact that somebody would have to die for him to get the liver,” Dawn Reynolds said.

“His faith was very strong,” Kathleen Reynolds added. Although his family misses him dearly, they are glad he is at peace. “I at least had (my child) for 23 years. I’m trying to look at that but it’s still hard,” Dawn Reynolds said. “He was so positive and touched so many people so that helps. I’d rather him be here, but I know he’s got a brand-new body now.”

Above all else, his family wants the world to remember him as both a caring and a fighting soul, who always did whatever he could to help whoever he could. Marquise Reynolds never gave up hope or lost faith.

Marquise Reynolds is survived by his grandparents, Zay and Kathleen Reynolds; his mother, Dawn Reynolds; his siblings, Celana, Deshawn and Nadia Reynolds; and his nephew, Ezra Reynolds.

To help the Reynolds family with their final expenses, people can donate to the GoFundMe page set up for him online at https://gofund. me/b5926b92.

“At least up there he’s not sick anymore,” Dawn Reynolds said. Marquise was the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Zay Rex Reynolds, formerly of Dustin, Oklahoma in the 1950’s and 60’s.