In December 2018, Brody was diagnosed with a very rare peripheral t cell lymphoma. The symptoms started on our Thanksgiving trip to Destin. While in the car, he threw up. He only threw up once and had no other symptoms so we thought that he just was motion sickness. A week later on our vacation to Mexico Brody got sick twice off and on. Once back to the states, he tested positive for the flu. Brody continued to be tired. He was coming home from school and going straight to bed.
Then on December 14th, after becoming sick at my company Christmas party, we immediately brought Brody to the ER. Thankfully we saw the doctor we did that night as she decided to conduct multiple blood tests that showed he had extremely high calcium levels. She let us know she thought there was a possibility that it was cancer and they were transferring us immediately to Atlanta’s Children’s Hospital where it was confirmed he had cancer.
We transferred his care to Nashville where we learned the underlying reason for the rare form of cancer appearing is due to a rare genetic disorder called ataxia-telangiectasia (AT). Basically it is a combination of every horrible disease you can think of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and immune disorder. It is a disease that will continuously progress to the point where later in life he will need a wheelchair and could possibly not live to adulthood.
Brody completed 6 rounds of chop e chemo, which he tolerated very well. With clear scans at the end of May, Brody underwent his first bone marrow transplant. The hope was that Brody would gain someone else’s immune system so the cancer will not return and also fix the immune disorder caused by AT. The results showed the cells did not graft as they should.
In October 2019 the cancer returned shortly after returning from his make a wish trip. He then went through 4 more rounds of chemo before his second bone marrow transplant in March of 2020. He actually received his cells the day COVID was announced as a global pandemic. The cells did graft however in June the aggressive cancer returned, even with a new immune system.
At this point, there is no cure for his cancer and we decided to take Brody home and enjoy every moment we have left.
Hope session by Crystal Freemon Photography | Facebook | Instagram