Brian’s Blog was created for all of his friends, family, fans, and community members who are cheering him on in his fight against leukemia. Brian graduated from HHS in May of this year. Many people know Brian due to his leadership, sportsmanship, and outstanding athletic achievements including three state championships in wrestling, a state football championship, state discus champion 2011 and varsity track and soccer teams. He had received a call to serve a full-time mission to Uruguay and was planning to start his mission at the end of the month. After completing his mission to Uruguay, Brian planned to play football at SUU where he has already received a full-ride scholarship. Brian was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) on Tuesday October 2nd. That very day he was taken to Salt Lake City for intensive inpatient care. He has been receiving chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and other treatments. We hope and pray that Brian will recover with the help of competent medical care. Doctors say that there is an 80% chance that Brian’s cancer will respond favorably to treatment. Thank you so much for your support. We will keep you updated regularly on Brian’s progress.
Update: On January 14, 2014, Brian passed away after a 15 1/2 month battle with leukemia. He was in remission following the first series of chemotherapy treatments for only 3 months, in spite of earlier optimism. Another harder hitting chemotherapy began in June with the intention of following with a bone marrow transplant but instead, alternative treatments in Colorado Springs and later Atlanta were chosen. Those also were unsuccessful, too little too late. In November he underwent yet more chemotherapy in Denver. The leukemia did not respond. Brian returned home to Southern Utah friends and family on December 12, 2013. Leukemia took his mortal life, but it can't touch his spirit.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Slowly Recovering

We knew that the final round of chemo was a heavy hitter, and we are seeing the proof of it. I am so thankful they don't do 7 rounds of chemo any more, because I think Brian would have been one of the statistics. The good news is that he's doing well, but it is a remarkably slower recovery compared to previous count recovery periods. He feels good, sometimes a bit light headed, but nothing serious . He is able to do a lot of things, but his ANC (frontline immune system defenses-nutriphil cells in the blood) is still at 200, no change in 3 days, unlike before when it was 800 by now, and the risk from infection was lower. His platelets are way low, also which at this point before were way higher, so he's getting a transfusion today to get those up...and decrease bleeding risks. He's been given lots of platelets before in the course of his treatments, but not this late in the game. So, for what it's worth, I'm going to be pushing his nutrition even harder in the next week or so. I am so thankful he is doing well and the treatments are over!
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