St. Mary parishioner, the first University of Utah Catholic Studies major, faces cancer with courage

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Nick Halliday turns his determination and positive attitude toward to the new hurdle of battling cancer.

PARK CITY — At first glance, Nick Halliday might look like an ordinary University of Utah college student who commutes from his home in Park City to attend classes. But it doesn’t take long to see the drive, determination and faith that led him to create his own course of study and become the first Catholic Studies major in the history of the school. Now that faith and determination is focused on a new challenge – battling cancer.

After suffering severe, lingering chest colds for almost two months and undergoing several tests, on Nov. 9 Nick was diagnosed with Stage 2 Grey Zone Lymphoma, a rare type of lymphoma that is known for being aggressive and requiring different types of chemotherapy simultaneously. Doctors sent a pathology report to a specialist at the National Cancer Institute to confirm their findings. To Nick’s relief, the specialist believed that it looked like Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and surgery confirmed that diagnosis.

A Utah native, Nick started homeschooling in 8th grade and fell in love with trail running in his high school years. He maintained a blog on running equipment and was involved with Salomon, an international running company. Nick converted to Catholicism when he was 15 years old, and says that his hobbies growing up were “running, writing, and faith.”

Faith and his religious beliefs are so important to Nick that he created his own degree in Catholic Studies through the U of U’s Bachelor of University Studies program. In addition, he is also majoring in philosophy and religious studies. He originally wanted to enter the seminary but was advised to enroll in college first; now he’s leaning toward a career teaching philosophy or theology.

In addition to his studies, Nick is involved in two different congregations: his home parish of St. Mary of the Assumption and St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center, which ministers to students at the University of Utah, Westminster College, and Salt Lake Community College.

Father Lukasz Misko, director of campus ministry at St. Catherine’s, said that at the start they didn’t have many student programs, and Nick has been part of changing that.

One of those changes was Cate’s Café, a coffee shop where students can study and socialize.

“Because of Nick, the café was many times turned into a philosopher’s cave, and debates would take hours or days,” Fr. Lukasz said. “He always wants to go deeper and understand the faith and the connection to the world. He inspires those deep conversations.”

Nick  is good at articulating the faith to other people, said Angie Hall, a pastoral assistant at St. Catherine’s.

“He’s a fixture in our community,” she said. “He has a lot of good friends at the Newman Center.”

Fr. Lukasz agreed. “He is always the heart of the community. It’s been a gift for us to have someone like Nick,” he said.

Nick has withdrawn from his classes to focus on his cancer treatment. On his YouCaring website page, it reads: “He will leave no stone unturned and is determined to be cured using a variety of different means so that he can pursue his dream of teaching Theology at the High School or College Level.”

For information, to write well wishes, or to donate to his treatment, visit www.youcaring.com/nickhalliday-1006052.