Update On Brendon!!!!!

I have added a "donation" button under my about me section on the right. this will make it easier for those wishing to donate to do so!!! you do not have to be a member of paypal and you do not have to join. you can donate as much or as little as you would like and can use a credit card, debit card, or checking account. it is also encrypted for safety. you can also leave a nots to be sent with the card as well. Thanks for your care,consideration, and donations! they surely do appreciate it. i keep forgetting to tell you all to please pass along this blog to anyone you know who may be interested in praying or donating!!!

here is an email i received that was forwarded from one of ambers friends:

Brendon has been diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma or Non-Hodgkins Disease. Although cancer in general is pretty rare in children, if they do get it, this is a relatively common form for them to get. There are no known causes for lymphoma in children, they only think that it's probable cause is out of the millions of cells our bodies produce, one cell is malformed and reproduces causing the cancer. The Dr's assured Amber and Andy that it was not cause by diet, enviornment, genetics or anything that they could have possibly done. There is nothing they could have done to prevent this either. Of course we all know this but as a parent you ask yourself anyway so it was good for me to hear the doctor tell them this. The question was posed to the Dr as to about how long Brendon may have had this tumor growing and he wasn't sure but said maybe a few weeks to a few months. But the doctor also reassured Amber and Andy that catching it early or late didn't apply at all to cancer in children (even though it does very much in adults), specifically lymphoma. He said lymphoma symptoms are very non-specific

On Monday, 4/23/07, Brendon underwent surgery to remove the chest tube they had inserted to help drain fluid, insert a port (where his IV meds will be given) and also a bone marrow biopsy. The results from the bone marrow biopsy will be back sometime Tuesday. The biopsy was to see if the cancer had spread. We're all very hopeful that it has not. If it has though, the treatment will be the same, just more aggressive. They will be doing more tests over the next couple of days.

Treatment: Brendon will undergo chemotherapy treatment for approximately 2 years. The first 4 - 6 months will be pretty intense. Brendon is scheduled to receive his first dose of chemo on Wednesday 4/25/07. He will remain at Maine Medical Center for about 3 weeks from his first dose of chemo and then depending on how he is doing, will go home. The rest of the treatment will be primarily outpatient treatment in Scarborough . Treating this type of cancer is pretty tough, but Brendon 's odds are in his favor. They will not be doing anything surgical to treat the cancer, it will all be handled with chemo. Surgery is only to add/remove mechanical equipment such as the IV Ports or to make a diagnosis. Removal of lymphoma is typically not beneficial because of the type of cancer that it is. Radiation is not used to treat this type of cancer. The chemo will reduce the size of hte tumor pretty quickly. Brendon will receive the chemo either thru his IV port, orally or by chemo shots via spinal fluid. The SUPER thing about the treatment is that Brendon is receiving the same treatment here near his home as he would if he were sent to Boston or New York or anywhere else. This chemo regimen was developed by 240 hospitals nationwide networking together to come up with better treatments.

Side Effects: Brendon will almost surely lose his hair. A very small percentage of people don't, but it's almost certain that he will. Andy , Amber 's brother Tommy and her cousin Danny are all planning on shaving their heads in support of Brendon . Brendon will also experience nausea/vomiting but given his age, it's usually not too bad. The nausea typically gets worse with age so adults tend to have quite a bit where very young children tend to have none. Brendon is right in the middle where he will experience some. The third and worst side effect is low blood counts. The chemotherapy was designed to go into the blood and find rapidly growing cells. Unfortunately it cannot distinguish between cancerous cells and non-cancerous cells that just grow fast naturally, such as bone marrow cells. Bone marrow does reproduce quickly so the chemo may attack it. Brendon will be monitored closely to watch his blood and platelet counts. He may have to be given a transplant if his red blood count or platelet count gets too low. But they cannot transfuse white blood cells, so if his white blood count gets too low he may have to be hospitalized and given antibiotics to help fight any diseases. Given this information any people who are ill or children with fevers or unexplained rashes are asked to wait until they are better before going to see Brendon . Brendon will have a home nurse visiting twice a week. She will draw blood to monitor his counts. The other side effect to treatment is called Tumor Lysis Syndrome. As the cancerous cells are dying they release lysis into the system. The blood fights this but it can have a lot of stress on the kidneys. If there is too much stress on the kidneys, then dialysis is required. Brendon 's doctor expects only mild tumor lysis so hopefully it won't be a problem.

In the next day or so they will be doing more scans of Brendon . The treatment is generally so effective they expect results in the form of tumor size reduction ASAP. Brendon 's normal tissue will move into the open space where his tumor is as it shrinks. The cancer and chemotherapy should not affect Brendon 's overall adult growth much. He may be slightly smaller than he would have normally grown.

While Brendon is in the hospital and once he gets to his regular room out of the Special Care Unit (which will hopefully be today), he will be allowed to go to school in the classroom they have set up on that floor as he wishes. Some kids want to get back to a 'normal' life and some don't, so they are leaving it up to him. The Dr's estimate that Brendon will be out of school for about a month. At this point in time, he may very well be out for the rest of the school year, but again it's up to Brendon and how he's feeling about going back. The hospital provides a nurse/teacher liason who will go to Brendon 's school and talk to the students and teachers about Brendon 's condition and answer any questions they may have.

The odds are that Brendon 's tumor will just go away with treatment. Technically when his tumor is gone he will be in remission. He will always have to be checked though because it can come back, but the longer he goes without it, the better his chances are for remaining cancer-free for the rest of his life.

So that is all I have for info right now. You can go to www.mmc.org and there is a way to send an e-mail to Brendon and his parents. I don't have the direct link right now but I'm sure you can find it on there somewhere. You can also visit Amber 's MySpace page. She has not updated it recently because the hospital bloced access to it but you can post a message for them and she will get it sometime. As soon as I have the info for Brendon 's web page, I will forward that info.

Again, please send thoughts and prayers their way. Brendon , Amber and Andy are all doing amazingly well coping with this, but it gets tough. As you all know, Amber was going to school so she was not working anyway. Andy 's income was their only income. His employer has been fantastic about all of this and he is on FMLA right now but he will be unpaid for, I think they said, 3 weeks. They really do have an amazing support system and they aren't thinking about money right now at all but when they get home, it will hit them.

i also wanted to share a message i received from someone (just a reader of my blog, does not know them at all) who donated to brendon's family already:
please let them know that my girls are safe and healthy because of the kindess of many, many strangers.

i think many of us with multiples can relate to this, whether it was people in our church or complete strangers, please consider giving to them, and definitely continue praying! contact me at ds4nier@megalink.net with any questions!

p.s. my blog count was 75 total yesterday!!! wow!!