Katie Byczek - Family History 1835-2025

Katie Byczek
September 21, 2025 was Mick and Betty Byczek's 51st wedding anniversary [https://mickandbetty.com].

Mick has been fighting prostate cancer for the past two years. His current PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) is (0.57 ng/ml) and if he can lower it to less than (0.2 ng/ml) then the prostate cancer is no longer detectable at that level.

The most current clinical trial (ARANOTE) confirmed that out of 425 men, 62 achieved a PSA of less than (0.2 ng/ml).

Mick's family has been with him throughout his prostate cancer fight and he hopes to get to less than (0.2 ng/ml) soon.

Katie Byczek is the daughter of Mick and Betty.

Katherine and Michael - Christmas 1989 in Chicago

Christmas Day - Chicago

She was born into a family with a Chicago history that dates back to 1835. Mick and Betty introduced their daughter Katie to tennis at the M-T tennis club in Chicago. Katie was four at the time, and she showed good athletic ability right away. Katie played for several years and won a first place trophy at a Chicago tournament. Mick and Betty also introduced their daughter Katie to music at an early age with regular piano lessons. She excelled with Mozart, Chopin, and Beethoven. Recitals occurred three times a year. Some of her favorite works were Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata, several Mozart piano sonatas, and a variety of Chopin compositions. Katherine expanded her interest in music to include several modern performers. Her early classical training is the foundation that bridged the transition to popular music. Michael M. Byczek coached and choreographed his daughter Katie's Irish dances during the summer festivals in and around Chicago. She won three first place awards at the Milwaukee Feis, and joined a well-known school of Irish dance that year to continue her training for the Oireachtas. Katie's dances during her last competition were her best ever, but she did not qualify for the championships. Katherine spent approximately ten years perfecting her Irish dance steps, and turned her attention to ballet training prior to college.

www.mickbyczek.com

Mick completed his 45th lab blood test in October 2025. The results for the following tests for the last two years (PSA Total and Free, Testosterone Total and Free, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, Basic Metabolic Panel, CBC with Auto Differential, Hepatic Function Panel, Lipid Panel, Complete Blood Count, Parathyroid Hormone, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D, Inorganic Phospate, and C-Telopeptide) indicate that he has made remarkable improvements over the past two years. Each medical center visit for lab tests cost $650.00, and his prescription medicine has a cost of $17,200.00 per month. The PET PSMA scans have a hospital cost of $42,000.00 for nuclear medicine. Prostate cancer is very expensive to treat, and he hopes to achieve an undetectable level in 2026. There is a one-hour prep time in a special room for the radioactive tracer POSLUMA to be administered by IV prior to the 30 minute PET PSMA scan. Mick will request another PET PSMA scan when his lab work indicates that the PSA is less than (0.2 ng/ml) in 2026. It is the guideline to determine undetectable prostate cancer. The Prostate Cancer Research Institute (www.pcri.org) provides extensive information regarding family concerns for all treatment options. Mick will enter his third year treating prostate cancer in Chicago.

Katie was privately tutored until her entry into engineering school at the University of Illinois where her father Mick was an alumnus with an advanced physics degree. He recommended Katie for the engineering physics program, and she received a scholarship for her freshman year. She was awarded a mechanical engineering degree in 2010. Katie will return from a work assignment in Sweden in order to complete the agreement that was reached in a court settlement that was finalized in July 2023.

The family has a very long history of marriage traditions that originated in Ireland and Poland.

www.michael-m-byczek.net

Katherine (Kittie) Rooney wed Edward Talbot in 1880 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

Courtesy of Chicago Tribune

Mick and Michael Byczek are the 4th and 5th generation of the William Rooney family that dates back to 1835 in Chicago as a settler, who acquired considerable property over his lifetime.

www.michael-byczek.com