Another Update!!! :)

Brendon and his mom!

this is a blog that amber (brendon's mom) posted on her myspace:

As I sit here reading all the kind words and offers of support, I am blown away..

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update my bulletin/blog.. Can't get to MySpace from the hospital anymore. Here is the update:

Brendon went through his first intense chemotherapy last night at 5:45pm. This morning he took a shower and walked around the halls of the hospital a little, which was awesome!! He's eating and laughing again.. The real Brendon is starting to come back. He knows that he has cancer and he knows that he has a long road ahead of him, but he's such a fighter. He's going to beat this! We got the results back from the bone marrow, spinal fluid and CAT scan and they are all clear. We are waiting on one more test (which we should have tomorrow at the latest) to see if the cancer has spread anywhere else. The doctors believe that it will come back clear. BRENDON DOES NOT HAVE BRAIN CANCER AND HE HAS NOT BEEN CUT OPEN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AND HE IS NOT FULL OF CANCER. He has a very large (a little bigger than a grapefruit) tumor on the right side of his chest. That's it. No other cancer present anywhere (that we know of). He has had 2 surgeries. One was for a biopsy (where they remove a small piece of the tumor) and the other was to have a central line put in and to test his spinal fluid and bone marrow. He will not need any additional surgeries as of right now. All of the nursing staff, doctors, surgeons and every person that we have come in contact with has been fantastic! We are in great hands.

Thank you for all the love and support you have been giving us. It means more to us than you'll ever know. Please feel free to repost this on your own pages if you want. The only thing I ask is that you relay accurate information. It's very upsetting for members of my family to get phone calls from people who are arguing about what they have heard on Bren's condition. I have started a webpage for Bren that I'm working on updated. Please keep checking in on it for updates. On this page you can send comments and Bren will be able to check it. The hospital is setting him up with a laptop. The e-mails and cards that he has been getting have been so encouraging to him. His face lights up when we read them to him. He's such a great kid! All the nurses love him.

Sorry this is so sporatic, but I'm trying to rush back to the hospital.

Thank you all again. We love you all!

this is a message i received in my email. there is a little more info in this. as amber said, she was in a hurry to get to the hospital. this is from her friend and what she received from amber:

4/26/07



Brendon received his first dose of chemotherapy yesterday. It went very well. He didn’t get sick so that is really good. The doctors are very optimistic that he’ll have very little sickness throughout the chemo treatments. They said it usually gets worse before it gets better and since Brendon didn’t have any complications from the four doses of chemo he received yesterday, they are thinking he’ll do very well through this treatment.



Due to the chemo, his hair will begin to fall out within the next 10 – 14 days. It may re-grow a bit here and there but for the most part it will not grow back until he is completely finished with chemotherapy.



The bone marrow biopsy came back and the cancer has not spread to his bone marrow. So that is awesome news! His spinal fluid is also free of cancer. They did a PET scan yesterday and they are still waiting on the results from that but they think it will come back good. In a PET scan, they insert a dye into the blood stream and scan the body. The dye is designed to go to the areas where the cells are working to repair themselves such as the area of Brendon ’s tumor. Any areas that light up on Brendon ’s scan will have to be further tested to see if there are more cancer cells growing. But the doctors are thinking that the tumor in Brendon ’s chest is the only one.



He is on the sixth floor at MMC now. He’ll be there for another 3 – 4 weeks. He is free of all tubes and needles, with the exception of the IV port in his chest which will remain there throughout his chemotherapy. He’s moving around, taking walks and getting up to use the bathroom, shower, etc. They have a game room on that floor with a big screen TV where they broadcast the Seadogs games. He checked it out today. He can see Hadlock Field from his room too and sometimes a few Seadogs players and/or the mascot go over to visit so hopefully they’ll make a trip over there sometime while Brendon is there.



That’s about all I have for updates right now. But Amber and Andy want me to pass along how extremely grateful they are for all the love being sent their way. They really do appreciate every card, e-mail, phone call or gift. As expected, they do have so much going on right now, they may not be able to contact you back right away but they are getting the messages and it’s really keeping their spirits up. The support and encouragement everyone is showing as well as Brendon ’s strength and courage is really what is getting them through right now. He is an amazing kid. He’s been a trooper through all this from day one. He lights up when he gets a card or an e-mail. He really enjoys those. Also, they’ve begun to work on his web-page. Right now it’s still pretty new so there isn’t a lot of info on there.


Keep the prayers and positive thoughts going. They’re working!!!

i have the website info, but i did not want to publish it. any updates that are put up there, i will post here. if you are a friend of them or aquantaince, feel free to contact me and i will pass along the site!

p.s. just to update on the total for donations, our goal is $200 and we are at $190!!! i still have 4 people that i am waiting on that said they wanted to donate!!! thanks to all and please don't feel like we will reach our goal so you can't give, if you want to be a part of this, we would love you to join. $200 was a goal i didn't think we would get to and now that we're here, it seems like we could do so much more. anyway, thanks to all the people who already donated and will continue to do so!!!!