Brennen Still's Courageous Fight: Faith over Fear!

This is me, Stephanie, and my 12 year old nephew Brennen, aka BMan!

BMan was recently diagnosed with a  rare Leptomeningeal Melanomatosis cancer on his brain.  While this is no news a family wants to hear, we remain very optimistic and have continued faith he will get through this. Brennen has received tremendous care and support and I feel like miracles have been at work already.

The Monday before New Years, Brennen had a migraine headache that caused some numbness in his leg, arm, and face on his left side. Later to find out that this episode, in fact, wasn't because of the cancer but a sign to get him seen at the local hospital. It also made the doctors suspicious enough to keep digging deeper for answers. An MRI was scheduled where they initially seen something unusual on his brain.

After the MRI was completed, the local doctor felt they needed a second opinion and sent BMan by ambulance to the Iowa City Children's Hospital. More MRI's and a spinal tap confirmed that he had a spot on his brain. They decided a brain biopsy would be the next best thing to test the area and further diagnose the spot. The doctors were able to take a nickle size piece of the affected area along with some of his brain tissue.. They did so without any impairments to BMan, praise the Lord!

The biopsy confirmed that Brennen has a rare form of melanoma cancer on his brain which has only had a couple of documented cases in children and a few adults to date. The doctors immediately ordered a PET scan to see if the cancer could be found in other parts of his body. The scan showed all of his organs inside his body had no signs of the cancer and only noticed a few small lumps near his belly button. Praise the Lord again that this seems to be isolated! Given the rarity of the cancer and due to the area of the mass on his brain, radiation would be the last resort if chosen. It was decided that he be put on an experimental drug that is not yet FDA approved, but it has had some successes in the last five years. A port was put in Brennen’s artery to his heart to start administration of the drug every 3 weeks which helps boost the immune system to fight the cancer. The hospital has also sent parts of the biopsy to St. Jude's research center for further analysis and we are hopeful for other recommendations to fight the cancer.

All this in 17 days, it is amazing the sense of urgency and thoughtfulness those at the hospital have put forth to help Brennen. His journey so far has been blessed with many miracles. A non-related migraine brought us to this point where Brennen is in good care to fight this cancer. The doctors kept testing, took no chances and sought others opinions. It was found at a point in life when BMan’s body and mind are strong. The biopsy was successful and caused no impairment to Brennen. The cancer looks to be isolated. Brennen is not experiencing symptoms that are typical for this stage of cancer. If not all of the above were true, the future could look different. I am thankful for the progress and our track forward but most importantly admire Brennen’s strength!

I am starting this Go Fund Me page for two reasons:

1. I want to share Brennen's story to all those around us and ask you to be a part of this miracle of healing. To both join and help create a never ending prayer chain. Be it the power of prayer of those who are near and dear to us, those who know or met our family along the way, or those who may be strangers who hear his story and have compassion for him and want to help! Together, we can lift Brennen up, surround him with love, support, and ask for God's healing to be upon him!

2. As you know, with all of his medical needs, comes many expenses, so I would love to be able to support Brennen and his family (Brad, Christine and brothers; Austin and Evan) with a monetary donation to help lessen the financial burden so they can focus on the most important person at hand...Brennen!

We truly appreciate all the prayers and positive thoughts you can send their way and if you are able to give a little that is greatly appreciated as well!

God Bless!

Brennen's Aunt Steph and the rest of the Still clan (Grandpa Steve, Grandma Julie, Uncle Seth, and Uncle Shane)