Help Brett: A Selfless Friend's Time of Need

On 12/21/24, Brett’s dizziness and disorientation heightened to the point he was barely able to finish his shift. This forced him to call in sick to work on the night of 12/22 for the first time in 19 years. He went to the doctor immediately on 12/23 and it was determined that he would be unable to return to work until the symptoms cleared.

He didn’t have a day off in all of 2024, so while waiting for the upcoming appointments he visited his dentist due to pain in his jaw and front teeth. The dentist found areas on the x-rays that were troublesome, and he was referred to an oral surgeon.

He then started his medical journey with a Dizzy/Balance therapist in Duluth. He first was diagnosed with positional vertigo, and then later on with persistent postural-perceptual vertigo. The positional vertigo has subsided for now, but the persistent vertigo hasn’t to date – even with the therapy appointments.

While going through many other many other doctors’ visits from January-March 2025, he had oral surgery to remove a front tooth due to resorption and what the oral surgeon believed to be benign cysts in his upper jaw. During the surgery, the area was biopsied instead of being removed. In mid-March, he received the call from the oral surgeon saying it was non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This also has left several other teeth being loose in his upper set. He then was referred to a doctor in Oncology/Hematology in Duluth.

On April 1st, the consult with the oncologist took place. Since then, Brett has undergone a bone marrow biopsy, ECHO, PET scan and brain MRI’s. This has resulted in a stage 2 non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma diagnosis in Brett’s face and neck. The first part is located in Brett’s maxilla (upper jawbone) area and is extremely aggressive. It has spread up through his nasal area and cheek toward the bottom of his right eye socket. The other spot on the left-hand side of his neck isn't aggressive at this point, thankfully.

He had a port for chemotherapy put in his chest on April 21st and will start the immunotherapy/chemotherapy infusions on April 28th. These treatments will run at least until the end of June - and then they will check to see if they are working. They will then decide how many other treatments are necessary from there.

After all of the treatments are done, there will be reconstruction done on his mouth area that could involve implants and bone grafts if necessary.

All of these appointments, travel costs, surgeries and medical bills have already cost the Harling family tens of thousands of dollars, and the upcoming infusions and dental bills will add considerably to the amount owed. Brett will also be out of work for nearly seven months at the end of the first set of infusions, which will further strain their finances.