Josh Bamberg's Battle with Brain Cancer
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PLEASE SHARE! 9 months ago, my brother in law, Josh Bamberg was a happy and healthy 43 year old man living his best life in the Mississippi Delta with his wife Michelle and their two children Breland, 9 and infant daughter Emma. Josh also has an older son Brantley, 17 with Amy Fulkerson Bishop. Josh is the son of Ray Bamberg of Winona, MS and Alice & Peter Fairley, formerly of Decatur, MS. He is the son in law of Mike Campbell of Pickens, MS and Judi & Walter Ellard of Marks, MS.
What makes their story so much more incredible is that Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 when Breland was only 20 months old. She underwent a radical double mastectomy with several reconstructive surgeries. Because her cancer was progesterone and estrogen positive, her team of doctors advised her that another pregnancy could cause a recurrence of her cancer. So they opted to not have anymore children. In early May 2019, Michelle was 6 years cancer free and her oncologist advised her that if she was going to have a recurrence of her cancer then she would have most likely had it before then and if they wanted to have another baby they had her blessing. This was something that Josh and Michelle had talked about, prayed and hoped for ever since her diagnosis and now their wish was coming true. On Memorial Day, 2019, Michelle had a positive pregnancy test. They were over the moon and wanted a baby girl so badly. On August 9th, that dream seemed to be coming true as well! Baby Bamberg was officially a girl and officially Emma James. After a very high risk and scary pregnancy, Emma finally made her safe arrival on January 29, 2020. I have never seen a prouder father! He was so excited to have his “daddy’s girl!” They arrived home on Friday, January 31, 2020 and it seemed that all of their dreams and wishes were coming true.
On February 1st, just 3 days after little Emma was born, Michelle woke up at 5:30 am to Josh having a grand mal seizure. Josh was taken to the hospital and was immediately admitted, being told that the CT scan showed that he had had a stroke. Josh was in the hospital for 4 days with MRIs, EEGs, lumbar punctures, and an array of other tests being performed. All of the tests were normal and Josh was released on seizure medications with a diagnosis of late onset epilepsy. Over the next month, Josh didn’t get any better. His personality completely changed and he still had strange symptoms. He was readmitted for one night on February 28th and another MRI was done, it was completely normal. Josh again returned home and continued to have increasing symptoms. Michelle continued to call his neurologist and demand that something else needed to be done. She knew that something wasn’t right. So, on March 14th his doctor told her to take Josh to the ER and they were going to have him admitted to a hospital in Memphis. Upon arriving at the hospital, the doctors and medical staff immediately began different tests and procedures. They didn’t repeat the MRI because Josh had just had one done 2 weeks prior. On March 19th, after all other tests were normal and all other diagnosis were ruled out, an MRI of his brain was done. Josh had a quarter sized tumor on his left temporal lobe. On March 24th, Josh underwent a brain tumor resection and the neurosurgeon said that he got all of the tumor that he could see. They knew the results were bad, but once the pathology report was back, it was certain and they couldn’t deny it. Josh was diagnosed with Grade 4 - primary glioblastoma AKA terminal brain cancer. After surgery, Josh underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Even with surgery and treatment, the average survival time for glioblastoma is 12-18 months with only 25% of glioblastoma patients surviving more than one year, and only 5% of patients surviving more than five years.
As Josh has family and friends all over Mississippi and the U.S., wanting to help, we thought what better way to help them than by raising money for him, Michelle, and the kids. As everyone knows medical bills are costly and add up very quickly, especially when you’re not able to work.
Josh is such a wonderful and strong person and if we can make this fight a little bit easier, we’re going to do whatever we can for him and his family’s future. Let’s all try to ease the burden for this young family so Josh can enjoy the time he has with them. He has always put his family first and the stress of him worrying about their financial stability is taking an additional toll on him that he doesn’t need right now. Any amount is appreciated!
If you aren’t able to contribute financially, please keep my sister, brother in law, nephews, and niece in your prayers as well as the rest of his family. All proceeds go directly to Michelle and Josh.
I will update this page as I get new information from my sister.
What makes their story so much more incredible is that Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 when Breland was only 20 months old. She underwent a radical double mastectomy with several reconstructive surgeries. Because her cancer was progesterone and estrogen positive, her team of doctors advised her that another pregnancy could cause a recurrence of her cancer. So they opted to not have anymore children. In early May 2019, Michelle was 6 years cancer free and her oncologist advised her that if she was going to have a recurrence of her cancer then she would have most likely had it before then and if they wanted to have another baby they had her blessing. This was something that Josh and Michelle had talked about, prayed and hoped for ever since her diagnosis and now their wish was coming true. On Memorial Day, 2019, Michelle had a positive pregnancy test. They were over the moon and wanted a baby girl so badly. On August 9th, that dream seemed to be coming true as well! Baby Bamberg was officially a girl and officially Emma James. After a very high risk and scary pregnancy, Emma finally made her safe arrival on January 29, 2020. I have never seen a prouder father! He was so excited to have his “daddy’s girl!” They arrived home on Friday, January 31, 2020 and it seemed that all of their dreams and wishes were coming true.
On February 1st, just 3 days after little Emma was born, Michelle woke up at 5:30 am to Josh having a grand mal seizure. Josh was taken to the hospital and was immediately admitted, being told that the CT scan showed that he had had a stroke. Josh was in the hospital for 4 days with MRIs, EEGs, lumbar punctures, and an array of other tests being performed. All of the tests were normal and Josh was released on seizure medications with a diagnosis of late onset epilepsy. Over the next month, Josh didn’t get any better. His personality completely changed and he still had strange symptoms. He was readmitted for one night on February 28th and another MRI was done, it was completely normal. Josh again returned home and continued to have increasing symptoms. Michelle continued to call his neurologist and demand that something else needed to be done. She knew that something wasn’t right. So, on March 14th his doctor told her to take Josh to the ER and they were going to have him admitted to a hospital in Memphis. Upon arriving at the hospital, the doctors and medical staff immediately began different tests and procedures. They didn’t repeat the MRI because Josh had just had one done 2 weeks prior. On March 19th, after all other tests were normal and all other diagnosis were ruled out, an MRI of his brain was done. Josh had a quarter sized tumor on his left temporal lobe. On March 24th, Josh underwent a brain tumor resection and the neurosurgeon said that he got all of the tumor that he could see. They knew the results were bad, but once the pathology report was back, it was certain and they couldn’t deny it. Josh was diagnosed with Grade 4 - primary glioblastoma AKA terminal brain cancer. After surgery, Josh underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Even with surgery and treatment, the average survival time for glioblastoma is 12-18 months with only 25% of glioblastoma patients surviving more than one year, and only 5% of patients surviving more than five years.
As Josh has family and friends all over Mississippi and the U.S., wanting to help, we thought what better way to help them than by raising money for him, Michelle, and the kids. As everyone knows medical bills are costly and add up very quickly, especially when you’re not able to work.
Josh is such a wonderful and strong person and if we can make this fight a little bit easier, we’re going to do whatever we can for him and his family’s future. Let’s all try to ease the burden for this young family so Josh can enjoy the time he has with them. He has always put his family first and the stress of him worrying about their financial stability is taking an additional toll on him that he doesn’t need right now. Any amount is appreciated!
If you aren’t able to contribute financially, please keep my sister, brother in law, nephews, and niece in your prayers as well as the rest of his family. All proceeds go directly to Michelle and Josh.
I will update this page as I get new information from my sister.
Organizer and beneficiary
Vanessa Still Ashley
Organizer
Brandon, MS
Michelle Bamberg
Beneficiary