Patient Update / Brandon


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Brandon's Story


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	Learn more about Osteosarcoma and treatment at St. Jude.

Brandon – Mississippi
Osteosarcoma

It seemed like such a simple thing - just a bump on the knee. 7-year-old Brandon had been playing with friends in his hometown of Crawford, Mississippi, about 175 miles northeast of Jackson. He didn’t seem to hit his knee hard, but the pain lingered with him—so much so that his father, Jimmie, decided to take him to a doctor. That’s when the family learned that there was a tumor called osteosarcoma growing in Brandon’s left leg.

“I was in pieces,” recalled Jimmie. But in the midst of their nightmare, the doctor told Jimmie that his son would be sent to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for treatment, the hospital he himself had grown up supporting through his church. “It was the Lord working in mysterious ways,” Jimmie said. “We always donated money to St. Jude, every fourth Sunday of the month. It never crossed my mind that I would need St. Jude.”

At St. Jude, doctors discovered that the cancer had spread to Brandon’s lungs and that Brandon’s left leg would have to be amputated. Brandon underwent a lung operation followed by 20 weeks of chemotherapy.

The young boy then faced the reality of losing his leg with courage. “He handled it better than anyone in the family,” Jimmie said. In fact, Jimmie said that when Brandon sees the doctor who performed the amputation at St. Jude, he’ll tell passers-by “There’s the man that took my leg.”

The amputation has not slowed Brandon. He wears a prosthetic limb and loves to play basketball, baseball and football. Losing his leg forced him to relearn to ride his bike, but Brandon overcame that challenge as well. “He never slows down until he gets tired or thirsty,” his father said. “It makes me feel great that he just keeps going.”

Brandon has completed treatment but returns to St. Jude monthly for routine check-ups.

Update
March 12, 2007
Despite the efforts of St. Jude's doctors and researchers, the aggressive cancer returned. After several months back in treatment, Brandon lost his battle in March 2007. We will always remember Brandon's tremendous strength and spirit and the unending love and hope of his entire family.