Fundraiser For Duane & Teresa Branham

Hi, my name is Liz and I am starting this fundraiser for my mom, Teresa, and her husband, best friend, and soulmate Duane Branham in order to help with bills and other expenses they are incurring while Duane is in hospice with terminal brain cancer.

Some Personal Words on Duane

Duane has endured an unimaginable amount of pain for decades but you would never know it just by looking at him. He is kind, funny, knows everything, and is just a big kid at heart. He’s always worked hard, he remodeled every room of their house, he built stairs, he tended to a pristinely dandelion-free yard, chased down spooked horses, knows how to make some badass food and some even badderass fireworks, anything I ever asked him how to do he could tell me - I think the only thing in the world he didn’t know how to do was work his Smart TV (lol). And every single time I was around someone would be calling him asking for his advice, making plans to get together, or just calling to say hi.

Duane is loved by so many and anyone who spends any time with him can understand why, he’s a blast, he’s a macguyver, he’s a smartass and he’s an all around great person. With his grandkids he acts like a big kid and let’s them assault him with balls thrown through the laundry shoot he built. He loves playing hot wheels and talking about classic cars to them, and he loves jokingly egging them on saying “yeah, you’re not allowed to have any fun!” anytime their parents tell them to settle down.

Duane and Teresa are without a doubt soulmates, they’re each other’s lobsters. They’ve gone through so much together but through it all they have been each other’s rock, still making time to laugh and make the most of the time they have together.

These are just some of the wonderful things I’ve seen the few times I get to visit a year but it’s clear to see that the love he has for his wife, his family, his friends, and his dog and the love we all have back for him is eternal.

Backstory

After losing his one working kidney to cancer and getting a kidney transplant over a decade ago, Duane’s kidney began to fail again around 2017. He endured a year of dialysis, complications, and just generally feeling awful while awaiting a transplant until his amazing daughter offered him one of hers. The surgery was a success and he was able to function normally again.

This relief was cut short though when in early 2020 he was diagnosed with malignant melanoma that metastasized and spread throughout his heart, bones, and lungs. He responded well to treatment initially, however several months later the cancer stopped responding and spread.

On March 29, 2021 Duane was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 2-3 months to live without treatment. He was scheduled to begin immunology and radiation the following week even though it could put him back on dialysis within days, but him and Teresa were ready to fight. That weekend however, he became confused and started losing consciousness, the ambulance had to be called and it was determined that the lesions in his brain had started to bleed. He spent the next week hospitalized with complications from the brain bleed. Ultimately the doctors were not able to control the symptoms the cancer was causing enough to begin treating the cancer. On April 23, 2021 his scans showed the cancer had doubled in size and was spreading throughout his brain.

He was admitted to the hospital that weekend and told that he is no longer a candidate for treatment. They called hospice and palliative care. This news was devastating as you can imagine because they were ready to fight and ready to be in the 5% that beat this type of cancer.

Duane is now at home in hospice care surrounded by his loving wife, family and friends who are helping to finish up some of the many house projects he was working on and visiting with their friend, father, grandpa, or brother. He is truly loved by so many, everytime I was there he’d get phone call after phone call from people needing his advice or making plans with him.