Brandon’s Battle!

Hello everyone, meet Brandon!! He is my co-worker and dear friend, Amanda's, son the youngest of 5 children. On April 3, 2023, he was diagnosed with Classic Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This cancer is pretty rare in children of his age, but very treatable with an aggressive chemotherapy treatment plan. I am trying to help lessen any financial burden this will cause their family between meds not covered by insurance, missed days at work for parents, and hospital stays.

Please read about his story below (taken from his mom's social media):

Like lots of the world, my whole household caught COVID in the latter part of 2021 and we fought it off at home without any major issues. A few weeks later we noticed Brandon had a bump on the left side of his neck (about the size of a quarter). We went to the urgent care and were told not to worry, his lymph nodes were enlarged from fighting off the virus, which is normal, and we would just need to monitor it and follow up with his pediatrician.

March 2022 still there, not any bigger or smaller, followed up with his pediatrician still said no need to be concerned, and to follow up if anything changes.

A Sunday afternoon in June 2022 the small bump was now a larger knot, I freaked out, so we took him to the ER. An ultrasound was performed and he was diagnosed with Sialoadenitis, an unexplained inflammation of the salivary gland. We thought great, we have a name for this now. Once again, we were reassured that it would resolve itself without any medical intervention and were advised once again to follow up with his pediatrician.

August 2022, no changes - pediatrician reviewed results from the ultrasound performed at the ER and agreed with the findings. “It will resolve itself”, we were once again reassured.

November 2022, Brandon turned 6!! He went in for his wellness assessment, and all was good. (besides the egg-shaped knot on the left side of his neck). The pediatrician once again reviewed the report from his ultrasound and still said there was no need for concern, for us to "follow-up if anything changes".

March 14, 2023, I take him to the doctor as the bump is now a little larger. Pediatrician says he is not concerned but can submit a referral for general surgery to check him out if it would “give me peace of mind, but it’s going to be a waste of everyone’s time” he says. I immediately agree and leave the office dumbfounded by his comment. (Believe me, I will address this at the appropriate time, my main priority now is to get Brandon well)

March 21, he is seen by the thoracic surgery doctor who immediately said we need a CT scan to see what is going on. He sends the paperwork and we wait on insurance to issue prior authorization for the scan.

March 29, CT is performed of his neck using contrast. He was so brave getting his IV and scan. After about 15 mins he was done and we were told that the ordering physician would reach out to us once the radiologist released the results. In this day and age of technology, of course, I was curious so that evening I logged on to MyChart and see the results posted. BIG MISTAKE!! I am no doctor but every word on the report I googled came back to the same conclusion: CANCER. That was the longest night of my life!!! I had never cried so much.

March 30, 8 am Dr calls and says the results are concerning, please bring him to the ER immediately for further testing (going through the ER would not require prior authorization from his insurance). I leave work immediately and pick Brandon up from school. We head to the ER where they are waiting on him. They proceed to draw blood and perform another CT to see other areas of his body. Shortly after an oncology team comes to visit and says that besides the obvious area of his neck, there are other concerning masses in his clavicle, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. The rest of the conversation was kind of a blur. He was being admitted and would have a biopsy hopefully the following day if they could get everything worked out schedule-wise with the OR, ENT, surgery team, and anesthesia, as it would be a Friday.

March 31, 3 pm he has his biopsy. They remove a complete lymph node and 2 partials from the left side of his neck. Results would take 5-7 days, but they put in orders as an emergency, to hopefully speed things up. Saturday he goes home and now time to hurry up and wait. We spend that weekend celebrating Easter with our wonderful friends and family.

Monday, April 3, 3:17 pm I get the call that confirmed all of my fears….CANCER. Classic Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

April 4, we met with his new oncology team that let us know what to expect over the next few days, weeks, and months. Bloodwork, PET scan, port placement, chemotherapy, radiation…. All so overwhelming and scary.

April 6, he gets his PET scan. We found out that day he is allergic to oral Versed. He woke up from anesthesia a different child. Combative, uncontrollable, and mean. We stayed a few hours for observation and for the meds to wear off.

April 7, we had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am for surgery for the placement of his port. The procedure went fine and he woke up much better since he did not get the Versed that day. We go home to celebrate our Easter weekend with friends and family.

April 11, 1st CHEMO treatment. His treatment plan consists of 4 different types of chemo meds administered in 4 week cycles with different combinations each week. He gets his first 3 infusions, all good. As they prepare his last med infusion, as with the other meds the nurse goes over common, occasional, and rare side effects. One of the rare side effects was an allergic reaction to the preservatives that are in the med. She said in her 18-year career she had only seen it 1 time. The infusion starts and at about the 2-minute mark of his 1.5-hour infusion, he sits up and starts sweating profusely and is trying to tell me something and can’t get the words out. He couldn’t breathe and his eyes were swollen shut within a matter of seconds. The nurse yells out for assistance and they administer meds for anaphylactic shock. His little room, within what seemed like an eternity, was full of doctors and nurses trying to stabilize him. His outpatient 1st treatment quickly turned into hospital admission.

April 12, he received his 2nd dose of CHEMO inpatient for monitoring, but with an alternative medication. It was a success and we got to go home that evening and return daily the rest of the week for his infusions to complete week 1 of his first cycle.

It was a rough first 2 weeks, but Brandon is a fighter and will not let CANCER or CHEMO win.

If you have made it this far, prayers, prayers, and more prayers are appreciated. It’s going to be a long journey but BRANDON is ready to put up a fight. Times are hard but every little bit helps!! Thanks in advance for your support during this trying time. Please help share Brandon’s story!

#BrandonsBattle #youcantbeatBrandon #childhoodcancer #hodgkinslymphoma