As many of you know :

Brandon Carlsness has been battling brain cancer for the last couple of years and is about to go into his third surgery tomorrow.

The William Kelley High School class of 2003 is saddened by the news of our friend & classmate's battle for his life.

We wanted to take the opportunity to ask April (Brandon's wife) to share their story & allow us to put together this GoFundMe for them. Unfortunately, since Brandon's decline, April has not been able to work in order to be home helping care for him. We know that prayers are priceless, so if this story moves your heart, but you can't give right now, PLEASE keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Here is her condensed timeline of their story ;

“In Sep 2020, Brandon was experiencing extreme headaches, light sensitivity, nausea. He went in 2 times and was diagnosed with migraines. The 3rd time he went in, I demanded a cat scan because his “migraine “ medication wasn’t working, and he couldn’t even keep it down long enough to affect him anyway. Right after the cat scan in the ER, he was immediately moved to the neurotrauma ICU & had his first brain surgery the next day at Essentia in Duluth.

Recovery was rough & It was followed by 40 sessions of radiation & his first chemotherapy med called Temozolomide. After that, he wore an optune machine on his head to supposedly disrupt the cancer cells from growing. He was doing ok at this time, but due to the optune he was unable to enjoy much outside.

Our next big event was May 7th, 2021 when my son(Brandon's stepson) died of sudden cardiac death due to his hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at 19 !!!! My world was once again turned upside down as a devastated grieving mother... my son was my whole heart.

By October 2021, Brandon was experiencing headaches again, so I demanded an MRI. Sadly, we were told that Brandon had grown a large 2nd tumor even with the chemotherapy and optune. Essentia was understaffed due to COVID, so we were sent to the U of M Fairview, where he did his 2nd surgery. After this, they changed his chemotherapy to Lomustine. Even more defeated, we realized shortly after the second surgery that there was more growth.

So now, our next step is to head back down to the U of M on April 7th, where he will be checked in at 5:30 am for his 3rd surgery. After removing as much tumor as possible during this surgery, they will be placing gamma tiles in his brain that will deliver radiation for the next 30+ days. Every surgery comes with a greater risk of infection and brain bleeding.

The plan after this will be to start a new infusion chemotherapy, most likely with a port.

Sadly despite everything we are doing, it is only to extend his life and not cure the cancer.

Grade 4 glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain cancer, and no one has ever survived it.

I have talked to the doctors about getting at-home care because it’s terrifying to take care of someone right out of brain surgery. We’ve been together for seven years, built up our life, bought a home in Lakeside Duluth, and then BOOM; everything starts falling apart.

Brandon also has an 8-year-old son named Greyson Carlsness from a previous relationship.

We get him as often as we can, but they live in Ely, and it can be a struggle lately because Brandon can’t be around any sickness with no immune system. We were supposed to have him this last weekend, but it didn’t work out. Brandon is very sad because this was the last weekend before his surgery & he’s afraid that he won’t make it or be the same after everything is done. We are nervous & unsure since this is the third surgery, and the only reassurance we have got from his doctor is that ( of course ) “he will try his best.” Even with all the uncertainty, we believe he is the best surgeon, and we have to find faith in that. "