Brandons life changed drastically on January 15, 2015. The night before, Brandon had been suffering from some lower back and side pain. Finally, he went to the Lodi Emergency Room where the Doctor did a urine test and had a CT Scan done. Thinking he was suffering from a kidney stone, we waited for the results. The doctor came in and sat down, we knew something was bad. The doctor said the CT Scan showed lumps in Brandon's lungs and that there was bleeding in and around his Kidney. He immediately sent us via ambulance to South Sac Kaiser where he had a team waiting for our arrival. Once we arrived at Kaiser, they ran more blood tests, and did another scan and ultra sound confirming the tumors in his lungs. With the confirmation of tumors and blood test the doctor did a physical palpation and found a lump in his left Testical. They quickly took him to surgery to remove the Testical. Once removed, the doctors did more blood tests and sent the tumor for further testing. Once the pathology results came back, we received the news that Brandon had Stage III Testicular Cancer.

After a week in the hospital recovering from surgery and letting his kidneys heal, the doctors started Brandon's chemotherapy plan right way. They said because of his age and good health that his odds were in his favor. He went through three long harsh cycles of BEP chemotherapy and was told everything had worked successfully. Brandon and I thought he was in the clear and he was feeling great. We were excited to start planning our future together! He went in to have his first post check-up, a month after his last treatment, and we received the horrible news. We were devastated, the tumors in his lungs had started to grow again. Brandon realized this though journey was not over. His doctor ran more tests and Brandon had a CT Lung Biopsy done. Once the results came back, we were told Brandon had two types of testicular cancer. Since the BEP chemotherapy was not successful the doctor came up with another chemotherapy plan and informed Brandon that he would need to have a bone marrow transplant. With this new plan of treatment, Kaiser referred us to Stanford University.

Stanford has now taken over Brandon's treatment plan. He is currently going to be doing two cycles of chemotherapy in Sacramento and then he will be going to Stanford for inpatient chemotherapy as well as a bone marrow transplant. Brandon's bone marrow transplant is coming directly from his own blood. He will be doing heavy treatment with Stanford to prepare his bone marrow for transplant. Once his bone marrow is ready, he will undergo 5-7 days of harsh chemotherapy treatment. He will be in the hospital while receiving chemo and will only be allowed visitors from 7am until 8pm. Once his chemo is done and Brandon is in good standing, he will receive his bone marrow transplant which can take anywhere from 7-14 days. Once the bone marrow transplant is complete, Brandon will recover for 3-4 weeks. Once he has recovered he will be released from Stanford as an out patient and will be allowed to come home. The doctors informed us that this procedure is a one time deal, it will either work or not.

We are taking this whole situation one day at a time, and like everything else Brandon has good days and bad days. We have our moments of happiness and moments of sadness. We have been blessed with both our families and our friends love and support. They have been able to take the time out from their busy schedules to take him to and from doctors appointments, lab drawls, and of course chemotherapy treatments. One of the hardest parts of this whole situation is that Brandon has be unable to work. He has always enjoyed working and was looking forward to moving up in his career. With this news, it stopped him in his tracks and unfortunately he is only receiving a fraction of his monthly income. He and I both appreciate all of the love and support that we have received thus far. We are both so grateful for our family and friends and want you all to know our story as it continues. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue through this hard time!

Thank you from Brandon and Sarah