Jody Bratcher Benefit

This is my hero, she has also been my big sister since I was born, she wasn’t given a choice in either role.

On May 13, 2014, she was napping after work on the couch in the living room with her husband, Jeff. He awoke to her hitting the floor due to the first of many grand mal seizures she would quickly experience. Over the next few days, her life became a flurry of decisions no human should ever be faced with making under pressure. She ultimately was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma in her right frontal lobe that resulted in surgery to remove the mass.

She survived!!

Fast-forward 4 years… Jody, like many of us who love spending summers at the lake in Minnesota, visited the dermatologist regularly.  At her check up in the fall of 2018, she was dealt another unexpected hand; she was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma. In January 2019, after surgical removal of the tumor, Jody began a yearlong round of intravenous treatments of Opdivo at the Cancer Center in Fergus Falls.

She survived!!

Now, let us jump forward again to the winter of 2019. Jody is almost done with her melanoma treatments and had been getting maintenance brain scans every 3, then 6 months since her surgery just over 5 short years ago. The doctor in Fargo, who had been reading her scans since the beginning, saw something in this one that concerned her and she sent Jody to consult with a local surgeon. The surgeon let her know that a tumor had regrown in the same area, it was too complex for any instruments he had available to him, and he was referring her to the Mayo clinic in Rochester.

Again, over the coming days, Jody and Jeff were facing life-altering decisions and trying to absorb more information than the average human brain can process in a lifetime. The tumor was not only back, it was a more aggressive type this time, it had crossed over her corpus callosum and had entered the left lobe, aka: command central. There was talk of paralysis if they were too aggressive in their surgical efforts.

Let me just insert here that we, as a family, cannot say enough about how Mayo handled not only the taking on of Jody’s complex case, but also how they communicated and empowered us as a family to fight this new opponent together.

Over the next few days, Jody finished her last infusion of Opdivo and went bravely into yet another brain surgery – oh, and by the way, her melanoma came back for another round as well. We were all terrified. When she came out of post-op recovery and not only knew all of our names but could also move all of her extremities, we were ecstatic, to say the least.

Again, she survived.

Jody has a long road of chemo, tests & treatments in front of her. Having two primary cancer diagnoses to overcome, both at stage 3, is no small feat! We continue to believe that with the Mayo doctors’ skill and all the prayers and support we can send her way, she can overcome this!!

Jody and Jeff have the kind of love most humans wish for; he has been by her side every step of this journey and for the last few months, to the extreme. Jody & Jeff had to live in Rochester (a 4 + hour drive from their home) M-F for 6 weeks after this last surgery. Every weekday during this time, Jody endured being strapped down to a cold steel bed, to the point of immobility, for radiation treatments on her brain, along with her first round of oral chemo. The sounds and smells that Jody has become so sensitive to, limited where they could even stay. Luckily, Jeff works seasonally for an incredible company out of Erhard, MN called Ripley’s. I give them a shout out as they have been so incredibly supportive of Jeff’s commitment to taking care of Jody. Jeff had planned, initially, to return to work for this 2020 season with the help of other family members who were going to step in during his absence M-F. Then came the pandemic. All of a sudden, it was no longer a viable option to have Jeff out in different communities, across multiple states, and still be able to come home to Jody every weekend. It just isn’t safe. Jody has not been able to work for over a year and now Jeff cannot work for who knows how long either.

They need our help.

Jody has been so private about this entire journey; I realize most of you didn’t even know she had the first tumor. My sister is a strong, proud woman and would never want to be the focus of anyone’s pity. For countless years, she made it her unspoken mission to bring joy to every person she saw. Her bubbly personality and beautiful smile has brought happiness to so many of us that know and love her – even those who only met her once. 

I am grateful & honored that she is finally allowing me to tell her story.

This is the same woman who drove 3 hours every Sunday night and again Friday afternoon so she could live with us all week to help raise our girls, all because I called crying the day I had to go back to work & leave my baby with a “stranger”. She would leave our house just in time to make it to Ten Mile to work all weekend, and then come right back again. She sacrificed a lot for us, I don’t want to see her have to sacrifice any more than she already has because of this unimaginably destructive monster they call cancer. She does not need to be worrying about the possibilities of losing her home alongside trying to focus on surviving this next round of chemo. Also, I just want to give others a chance to give back to Jody for all the love and happy hearts she has contributed to over the years.

Let’s overwhelm her in the best of ways… <3 Thank you for reading her story & helping if you are able.