Never Give Up; Please Help Support The Russell's

May 12th, 2020 was the day that changed our lives’! James’ Dr suggested that he have an MRI the week before because of several things that were changing his daily function. I came home May 12th to find him in the chair in the living room white as a ghost! He said “I have a massive brain tumor” on the left side of my Brain! He said he didn’t even make it in the door before they called to inform him! The next day I didn’t go into work, just waiting for the call from OU cancer center! They got us in to see Dr. Glenn May 15th. James, Tanda ( James’ mom) and myself set in the room only to hear that James had Glioma brain tumor. Dr. Glenn seemed hopeful and said that he was there to help us! But he said that surgery couldn’t wait! We pulled up to the hospital May 21st to drop James off to prep for early surgery May 22nd! Surgery didn’t go as planned he had a seizure during surgery, and they had to close him up. Dr. Glenn was happy that they were able to get a little bit of brain tissue to send off to have biopsy. Dr. Glenn said that he would go back in and try to remove the tumor on May 27th. That surgery went a little better! They were able to get more tissue to biopsy, but not able to get a lot of the tumor out because of the fact it would permanently paralyze James’ right side. That following day I got a call saying that the tumor was a grade 3 called Astrocytoma. By this time, my kids nor I had seen James in 2 weeks! With the Covid rules, it made it to where we didn’t see James for 20 days! We got to pick him up June 9th from in patient rehab, where he had to learn to walk, talk and use his hands. Picking him up was a little scary but exciting! He was so nervous to be around the kids just as much as they were nervous to be around him! James got a two-week break and the started 6 weeks of radiation at Stephenson center. At that same time, we started on to our 1-year chemo journey! Thankfully he never got sick! James worked hard for the next several months to get stronger and better than ever through speech, PT, OT as well as private CrossFit training. After being off work for 6 weeks after surgery, Dr. okayed him to work from home! He worked from home for 6-8 months, then finally got to go back into the office! That was a good day for him! He loved his job and all the men that surrounded him! He started group CrossFit and work full time again! He felt himself again! August 31, 2021, James finished his year of chemo and all his MRIs since surgery in May 2020 hadn’t shown anymore growth from the tumor! He had MRIs every 8 weeks! October 31st, 2022, he told me he was losing strength in his right arm on the way to have another routine MRI! We went back one week later to find out they could see a new spot. They said it was radiation necrosis most likely and would monitor him and started him on Avastin infusion every other week. Had another MRI November 30th, 2022, the spot looked to be growing, tumor board seem to still think it wasn’t new tumor growth, just radiation necrosis. January 27th, 2023, had another MRI, as well as an office visit! The Dr could tell that James had declined so much since he had last seen him in person! We had been doing zoom appointments. After the January MRI they decided since the spot was growing that it was best to do a biopsy of his brain in the suspicious spots! Feb 10th, 2023, had surgery for that! The pathology came back saying it was new grade 3 cancerous tumor, as well has radiation necrosis. The Doctors decided that we needed to do 15 treatments of radiation and chemo for 30 days! We only ended up doing 9 treatments of radiation, and 19 days of chemo treatments. I informed the Doctors that we needed to stop treatment because he had declined so much in those few weeks! He ended up having to be in a wheelchair after 6-7 treatments because he was too weak to walk! They agreed explaining he shouldn’t be getting worse, but better! His right leg was trying to stop working! April 18th, 2023, James had another MRI and then a follow up appointment with Dr. Battise. The new MRI was just like the previous MRI, the tumor hasn’t grown anymore! This is good news! We are now waiting to have a meeting with Dr. Battise about starting a new FDA approved chemo in a few weeks! As of today April 29th, 2023, James is on disability and can’t work, he can’t really speak, no right-side function of his right shoulder, arm or hand, very minimal function of his right leg! He can’t be alone at home. He has PT, OT, Speech coming to the house a few days a week! I (Tiffany) am no longer working and staying home to take care of James and our two little kids! We have a 9-year-old little girl Jocelyn and 7-year-old little boy Jett! If I can share anything from this experience, it’s that life is so short to not live it to the fullest! Hug your family and let them know how important they are! God is good and he will continue to help James make it day to day and give our family the courage and strength we need to go day to day!