The Brady Bunch

"Its the story of a man named Brady- And a lovely Lady"
My brother-in-law Jeff Brady, and my sister, his wife Ellen...
Jeff's cancer story began around 7 years ago when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He went through the traditional radiation and chemo treatments and was declared cancer free 3 years later. He was just coming up on his 5 year mark and being declared "in remission" when a routine scan found a small shadow on his right lung. A biopsy revealed it contained cancer cells. They labeled it adenocarcinoma of the lung (a very common cancer). Fortunately it was housed in a dead area of his lung.  He was told that the best option would be to remove the dead lobe, so he went with that option. Surgery was scheduled for January 8. He was to be out of work for about 6-8 weeks for recovery. He recovered very well and was getting ready to go back to work when he started having trouble walking and was getting very nauseous. Ellen took him to the ER and a CT Scan showed 2 lesions in his brain. Turns out, the lung cancer spread to his brain. Unbeknownst to us, that's what adenocarcinoma of the lung does. A neurosurgeon recommended surgery to remove the lesion on top of the brain in a safe location and use pin point radiation to zap the lesion on the cerebellum which was too risky to operate on. He again recovered well from the surgery and finished the radiation treatments and was again planning to go back to work when he started having trouble walking and the vomiting returned. Another ER visit and CT Scan showed the lesion on the cerebellum swelled instead of shrank and needed to be removed. So he went through a second brain surgery in 2 months. After that, recovery was a little slower. He had problems with headaches and a follow up MRI and PET scan revealed 6 new lesions formed in his brain since the second brain surgery. They went to Penn for a consultation for treatment. The doctors there recommended full brain radiation followed by chemotherapy and immunotherapy combined. He finished the radiation treatments and is now undergoing the chemo/immuno treatments. So...That's where they are now. The docs are hoping that with this new course of treatment, he can get 5 years... Best case scenario is that he is able to beat this beast FOR GOOD this time! We are going with the "best" option.  Jeff has been unable to work since his surgery in January and as you can imagine, the medical bills are astronomical. Please pray for Jeff, for Ellen, and for the doctors and nurses caring for him. We want this Brady Bunch story to have a fairy-tale ending.  Jeff and Ellen both deserve it.