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Support Brennan's Fight Against Rare Cancer

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Hey friends, it's me, Rachel McGee again. So the battle continues. We are coming up on 6 months post-op and cancer has reared its nasty head again.

The journey continues…

Brennan turned 18 in January, and in February he was diagnosed with a rare aggressive cancer, MEN2B; Medullary Thyroid cancer accounts for only 3-5% of all thyroid cancers, and Ret mutation 918 MEN2B is even more rare. Average estimates suggest it affects 1 in 1.5 million people. Imagine that, 1 case in the entire population in the state of Montana. This is what Brennan is up against.

We chose to go to the best thyroid surgeon in the U.S., Dr. Gary Clayman, to give him the best chance of survival, which meant a trip to Florida.

He had a complete thyroidectomy in April, including his lower left parathyroid, 38 lymph nodes, and right jugular vein. He was just a hairbreadth away from losing his larynx and vocal cords. The surgery was a success as all known cancer was removed at that time.

We came back to Great Falls to be monitored by the Sletten Cancer Institute.

The following pictures are all that they removed from Brennan's neck... scroll quickly if you have a weak stomach







On top of what we have been dealing with for Brennan, we arrived back from Florida and five days later Renee (mom) had a major fall and broke her ankle and fibula as well as completely tore her right shoulder rotator cuff. Two surgeries ensued and she is still in physical therapy.

NOW back to Brennan! Only 11% of cases will show cancer emergence within 6 months. Sadly, Brennan is of the 11%. His situation needs to be handled by an institute that specializes in targeted treatment to give him the best chance for remission. Life expectancy, under the best of circumstances, is 30 years of age.

This cancer does not respond well to chemo or radiation, which means we will need to travel to Houston, TX to MD Anderson. They are leading the way in cancer research, trial studies, and targeted treatment. Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes are treated in MD Anderson's Endocrine Center, one of the nation's most active programs for diagnosis and treatment of these complex and rare diseases. They have a high level of experience and expertise that is found at few other centers. Your care is personalized by a team of renowned experts from many specialties. Working closely with each other and with you, they customize your treatment plan and deliver the most advanced therapies with the least impact on your body. This individualized care is important because MEN can affect many processes and parts of the body.

They will be traveling as a family, which means her husband will miss a great deal of work. The family hopes to make great memories with their son while in Houston.

Their journey is not over and we suspect they will be returning to MD Anderson often for targeted treatment. Because of Brennan's age and cancer diagnosis, he does not qualify for many foundations or financial hardship programs such as Make-a-Wish or TAF and there are no programs for his type of cancer.

Any donation at this time will be deeply appreciated.

Thank you from the Bogie Family
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $100
    • 15 d
  • Deborah Pratt
    • $10
    • 23 d
  • Judy Shattuck
    • $20
    • 24 d
  • Nancy Dusterhoff
    • $100
    • 30 d
  • Mike Stoller
    • $100
    • 1 mo
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Organizer and beneficiary

Rachel McGee
Organizer
Great Falls, MT
Jeannette Renee Bogie
Beneficiary

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