Hi all, we're back home and enjoying our routine again! Brandon is doing remarkably well. He has a ton of energy, is loving seeing his friends and organizing his room and seems to be much happier just being home! We are so proud of him, he really amazes us. He will start back to school on Tuesday and will likely be back full swing as he is feeling so good!

Maui was such a needed rest for us. Beaches, no watches, no schedule, fun with our friends and lots of sun and swimming! We did a snorkel trip and a Luau on Christmas eve, other than that a whole lot of nothin' which felt really nice!

THANK YOU! We have a list of thank yous to extend to so many of you!

OUR HOME DECORATED FOR X-MAS
Thanks to Kris' mom and dad and all of our neighbors who decorated our home so when Brandon got here he could see that Santa did not forget about him! He as so thrilled and we know you all spent a lot of time doing that for him and for us, thank you so much!

AIRPORT GREETING
Thanks to everyone that came down. Long drive for a short visit but you made Brandon's night!!! He kept talking about how many people were there and how cool the signs were! Thank you for rallying around our boy!

KENNET DENKER
Kennet is a friend of Kris' from High School and lived at our home for 2 months to take care of our dogs. We can't thank him enough for doing this. It was a huge relief knowing they were cared for! It was fun talking to him as he would describe what the dogs were doing, they are a couple of characters!!

JUST A HEART FELT THANK YOU
Once again our family, friends, community and a ton of people we don't even know supported Brandon and our family during such a difficult time. All that you did and do help to keep us afloat. We could never thank you all enough.

Brandon's next St. Jude appointment will be in early Feb. Around the 8-10th. We feel a bit anxious that it is so soon but know that the doctors are taking such great care of him.

Happy New Year!
Love,
Kris, Brandon and Jeff
 

Hi all, hope you're well!
We are on our last 2 days here and as we pack up we feel sad to leave David and Julie but happy to get home and be done here!

Brandon seems to have turned a corner today and is feeling better than the past few days. He slept a ton over the weekend after his surgery and obviously needed it! He is doing well and only has 2 more radiation treatments and an MRI tomorrow, then we fly home!

GREETING AT THE AIRPORT! We know some of you have said you'd like to come down, thank you! This will mean the world to Brandon and we are so appreciative! Here is our flight info:

Northwest 161
    Depart Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP)    5:23 pm
    Arrive Seattle (SEA)                      7:08 pm

We will arrive at the N or S Gates so we will come up to baggage claim from the big long escalators. Kris' mom, Dianne/Grammy is coordinating should you want a contact for Thursday. Her cell is
206-930-4818 or you can e-mail her at r_dforth at msn dot com

Well this will be our last update from Memphis! We can't tell you how much you've all helped us while here. You do more than you'll ever know without doing anything specific! Just your love and support has helped us tremendously!

A BIG THANK YOU TO DAVID AND JULIE DOUGLAS!!!!! THEY HAVE OPENED THEIR HOME TO US, OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS SINCE OCTOBER 24TH AND HAVE BEEN MOST GENEROUS WITH THEIR HELP AND HOSPITALITY. WE HOPE YOU TRULY GET TO MEET THIS WONDERFUL COUPLE. THEY ARE THE KINDEST MOST GENEROUS COUPLE WE'VE EVER KNOWN, THANK YOU, WE LOVE YOU!

Kris, Jeff & Brandon
 

Hi all,
Well Brandon got through his surgery today amazingly well! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! He said "I hope this is the last surgery I have to have for a long time". Us too!

We started the day by dropping Grammy off at the airport. We were sad to see her go and it was just as hard for her to leave when her boy was having surgery. Jeff, Jeanne McDonald and Kris headed off to St. Jude for Radiation and to get Brandon's IV in. They are much better at putting in IV's over there so we opted to get it in at St. Jude then head to LeBonheur.

Brandon's surgery started at 12:10pm and was over by 1:30pm. Dr. Boop was able to just go into about 75% of the original incision to fix him up! He said that the original sutures from the October 26th, 2005 surgery had never fully healed; likely due to the radiation. He said that each individual suture site was oozing CSF fluid to the space in between Brandon's skull and his skin. So he stitched up each site again and then sprayed "Dura Seal" on the incision line to glue it shut. He feels this should work. We will now be in watch and wait to see if it tries to leak again and to see if his ventricles at the top of his head fill with fluid. If this happened he would need a shunt. This would only happen if Brandon's body could not re-regulate the fluid itself after fixing the sutures.

Brandon once again amazed us, the nurses and his doctors. ONLY 2 hours from being off of the table he 1). walked to the bathroom 2). Walked to the video cart and picked out a movie and 3). Went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat!! His nurse said SHE HAD NEVER SEEN A PATIENT UP AND AT IT SO QUICKLY!!! He is a trooper!

He only has 3 radiation treatments left then we fly home and off to Maui! We are very glad we are at the end of this all, feels like we've been gone a long time. We were glad to have Grammy here for the week, Jeanne with us through the weekend and our much anticipated visit from Shelly (Elliott) Pflugrath, Sunny Cameron and Traci (Guedel) Miller. Then 2 days to pack and home!

Thanks again for all of your support, mail and prayers. We hope you all know that there is no way to sanely get through all of this without the family and friends, old and new that we have. You keep us grounded, inspired and pick us up time and time again when we feel we are at the end of our rope, so THANK YOU!

Love Kris, Jeff and Brandon

www.brandonsgoal.org
 

Hi all, sorry for the delay in getting this update out!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Lots to be thankful for as always but this year certainly gives us so much more than we could ever imagine. Again this journey with Brandon is not easy for him or us, but with the support of family and friends like you all our load is lightened. We know there are many across the States and around the world for that matter that we don't even know who pray for our boy and support him, so thank you to you all. You've made this journey a bit easier for Brandon and his family.

Bumpa, Kris' dad from Texas, came up for Thanksgiving and cooked us a wonderful meal. Always fun when he is in town! Kris flew back to Seattle that afternoon for Hannah McDonald's MRI, it went very well. Stable scan of the tumor with even a bit of shrinking. They could not be more happy and even Dr. Geyer said he was pleased! HOPE FOR HANNAH!!!

Jeff, Gary and Brandon hit the Children's Museum (twice) and the Fire Fighters museum over the holiday weekend while Kris was gone. Some good ol' fashioned "guy time". Grandma "T", Gary's other half came in Saturday to hang with us and Bumpa left on Sunday. Grandma "T" was with us quite a bit 2 years ago while we were out here so it was fun having her back again!

On Monday Brandon had both a CAT scan and MRI simulation to prepare for the final boost of local radiation to the tumor bed. Brandon was not looking forward to this at all since the simulations used contrast and therefore an IV was required. Brandon requested Miss Lee, the local expert among the nurses, handle the IV. She was able to get it IV started on the first try and Brandon handled it like a champ.

After today Brandon has three remaining radiation treatments to the whole brain and spine. Then he will have eight treatments of local radiation to the tumor bed. He is handling the radiation quite well but his back and scalp, and ears are very dry and itchy. Also he has a sore on the outside of his throat that stings - all effects of the radiation.

Brandon still has the swelling in the back of the head from a likely CSF fluid leak. The lumbar puncture did not seem to do anything to help with it. In fact during that procedure they nicked one of his nerves and he had some very uncomfortable leg pain for a day or so. Quite frustrating to say the least. They have upped his diamox dosage that helps to increase the amount of fluid the tissue will and can absorb. If this does not work he will need another surgery so they can go in a plug up the leak. Should only require a 2 day hospital stay. If necessary, the surgery would likely be next Friday so as to not interfere with his radiation schedule.

Shelly and Ryan Moore get into Memphis tonight. Brandon is so excited to have his best buddy here for the weekend. Big plans for those 2 that I'm sure will require us 3 adults to chase them around as they tire us out! Shelly came out last time we were here so it will be nice to have her back as well!

Grammy comes back next week for 5 days then we get to have Sunny Cameron, Shelley (Elliott) Pflugrath and Traci (Guedel) Miller in town for the weekend. We are excited to have them and show them around St. Jude since they've been so instrumental in helping us fundraise. And of course these being Kris' childhood friends a trip down to Beale Street for a night is in order!!!!

Thanks for all of the mail and packages, Brandon hits the mail box every day and loves his time on his bed opening each and every card. It is truly the highlight of his day!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We love and miss you all!
Jeff, Kris and Brandon

www.brandonsgoal.org
 

Hi all, sorry for the lapse in time, no news is good news though!

Brandon is doing well. He is handling his treatments like a trooper, we could not be more proud of him! He will soon transition to treatments that will just focus on the tumor bed. His last day of radiation will be December 15th then we leave for Maui on the 16th! Great way to reward Brandon for doing such a great job!!

We had Hannah and Jeanne McDonald here for a week, and what a great week it was! Hannah and Brandon were so cute together at the hospital and hanging at home. He loved having a friend here with him and it was neat to watch Hannah "not be the kid in treatment" but just being a friend to one that was.

Kris has been coaching girls soccer at Jackson HS for the past several years as a volunteer. Jackson made it to the final four for the state playoffs. So Wendy (Otto) Winsor and her Husband Aaron who also coaches at Jackson flew Kris home for the tourney! What a wonderful weekend she had as the girls took 3rd in State!!!

On Thursday Brandon's hair started to fall out - an expected effect of the radiation. This is never easy to experience, but once again Brandon amazed us with his strength. He hasn't been troubled by loosing his hair, other than that is gets all over his clothes and itches. We took the advice from a fellow patient and had his hair shaved very short over the weekend. Most all of the hair is gone now. It'll come back after radiation but may not be as full.

A bit of a road bump today. Dr. Merchant's nurse Christy noticed that the swelling at his incision site had not gone down as expected and scheduled a neurosurgery consult. Dr. Boop saw Brandon this afternoon and confirmed that the swelling had increased and would need to be treated. The likely diagnosis is that some CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) leaked and caused the increased swelling. He recommended a surgery to open the incision and look to repair the leak. We asked to first try to treat it using diamox and a lumbar puncture before putting Brandon through another surgery. We hope and pray that the medicine and LP will do the trick and let Brandon avoid a surgery.

Hannah McDonald has her next MRI this Friday the 25th! Please send good prayers and thoughts her way for a positive MRI and keep her family in your prayers as well as this is a stressful week for them as they anticipate the results for Friday!

Thanks for all of you positive energy, thoughts, and prayers,

love, Kris, Jeff & Brandon
 

Hi all, please read the e-mail below from Jerry Arnold. His daughter Madeline has done something remarkable for our family and we wanted to share with you what she did. This is one of the blessings we get along the way and feel so lucky!!!! Thank you Madeline, we can't wait to meet you!
__________________________________________________________________________________________
 

Shelley,
My daughter Madeline and son Jake attended the clinic in Snohomish (Madeline plays for Snohomish United U-11) Madeline was very moved by hearing about Brandon and reading about him and his family on the website that she turned her 11th birthday party into a fundraiser for him. Her goal was to make $400.00 so that your goal would be met.
The girls spent 2 hours playing, singing and drawing a big get well card for Brandon. Madeline wanted you to know that she will be depositing another $635.00 in the Jeffrey Brauns Family Donation Account this week because of the soccer clinics and that she and her classmates are praying for the Brauns Family.
God Bless
Jerry Arnold
 

Hi all, an update from Memphis on Brandon.
He is doing great! He really turned a corner this past day with how he is feeling. He has been funny, interested in doing things, and eating up a storm!!! He has now graduated to foods that require more chewing and a stronger swallow. We are confident that by Thanksgiving he should be eating whatever he wants!!!!

He had his first official day of radiation today, he did so well, he is so brave and wise for his age. He strutted in there with his Shania Twain CD and hopped up on the table and did great!! We are so proud of him, he really handles this all so well, realizes the importance of it and is so agreeable to what he is told to do.

IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A CONNECTION TO SHANIA TWAIN Brandon would so love to meet her, write her, e-mail her, anything. The boy is hooked, go figure. He loves her music, watching her concerts and will listen to her "UP" CD everyday during his radiation!

Yesterday it took them 3 tries to get his IV in for the contrast for his MRI. After the second poke he said he was done and if they tried it again he was going to blow up the place! Well, after a few calming minutes he agreed to give it one more try and the finally got it in, we were so very proud of him.

We saw Dr. Merchant towards the end of the day yesterday and he showed up the post-op MRI. He said he was "very pleased" with it. There are only 2 tiny pieces of residual left, "smudges" Dr. Merchant called them - not much of anything and such a better resection than we ever thought we would get. Dr. Boop certainly delivered us another miracle!!! Well that is all for now, thanks again for all of your support and prayers.

THANK YOU so much for all of your mail! Brandon loves to check the mail when we get back from St Jude, we'll sent a picture soon.

Much love and friendship,
Kris, Jeff and Brandon
 

Hi everyone. Brandon is continuing to do well and we are so proud of his progress. The weather here in Memphis is beautiful, cool mornings followed by warm & clear afternoons. We'll catch you up on what we've been doing so far this week.

On Monday we were back at St Jude to meet with Dr. Merchant and discuss the treatment plan. It will be full brain and spine radiation. Last time Brandon had conformal radiation just to the tumor bed. This time since they found the new tumor Dr. Merchant feels that there is a higher chance that more tumors could arise out of the tumor bed, thus we need to radiate wherever CSF fluid can travel. This was a rough day for us as we had to sign the consent forms for the radiation. This involved Dr. Merchant going over all of the expected as well as potential short and long-term effects. This information wasn't new to us, but was still very scary to hear. Signing the consent was difficult because we, his parents, are giving the Ok to treatment that will likely cause Brandon long term deficits. We know that we don't have a choice as this is our best shot at a cure. After our meeting with the Docs, Brandon had his radiation simulation. This is a longer (30 min) CAT scan where they define the radiation field. Brandon was scared because he had to lay face-down, but he did a great job! We left the hospital after lunch and Brandon wanted some time to just veg out in front of the TV.

Yesterday we were scheduled to start up with the various therapies (PT, OT, & Speech), however Brandon had a rough morning and threw up multiple times. We headed in to St Jude to get him checked out and the problem was likely that he was being weaned off of the decadron (steroid) too quickly. Also possibly contributing was a lack of fluids, so we agreed that it would be a good idea to get some IV fluids. Of course this meant another poke for Brandon, but he did well. Brandon felt noticeably better once the fluids were finished. All of us (David, Julie, Rich, Dianne, and the 3 of us) went out to dinner to celebrate Rich's birthday. Brandon was hungry and ate a large bowl of mac & cheese.

This morning Rich left early for the airport to return to Seattle. We tried to get him to stay but Richy needed to get home to attend to the house and yard! Our first appointment today isn't until 12:15, it is nice to have a slow morning. Here's our schedule for today:

    12:15 pm   Assessment & Triage (vital signs, height & weight)
    12:45 pm   MRI Simulation (Additional information to help Dr. Merchant establish the radiation field)
     2:30 pm   OT (Occupational Therapy) Consult
     3:00 pm   Speech Therapy Consult
     3:30 pm   Radiation planning (work with combined CT & MR images)
     4:00 pm   Dr. Boop follow-up

We've got a busy afternoon scheduled. Today's MRI will be non-sedated, so Brandon won't need to get another poke. At the appointment with Dr. Boop we'll find out when Brandon can get his stitches removed.

Tomorrow Brandon will begin his radiation. The cranial-spinal radiation is scheduled for 22 treatments followed up by an estimated 8 treatments that will boost the amount to the tumor bed (local control).

Thanks so much for all of your support and prayers,
love, Jeff, Kris & Brandon

Hi all, well we sure are so very proud of Brandon! Lots of progress this morning.

The doctors came in this morning and told us that the post surgery MRI is clean!!! Oh my gosh, that is the best news yet!! We did not expect a full resection and Dr. Boop was able to do it!
So no residual disease!!!

Brandon first had his intubation breathing tube removed then had an ENT scope of his throat and vocal cord, there is a lot of swelling but the ENT doctor said his chances are good of not needing a Trach! That is so HUGE, thank you for your prayers on this one, we are elated and will know for sure if he will need one or not in the next day or so.

Last night Jeff, myself, Jeanne, and Shelley (Otto) Young took turns sitting with Brandon while the rest of us got some much needed sleep. When Jeanne and myself were down with him he managed to signal to us that he wanted to write us a note by using his finger to write in the air. Jeanne held a piece of paper for him and he wrote all by himself "WHEN CAN I GET OUT OF HERE", amazing! Jeff and I are so proud of him. He is being such a big, strong and brave boy. The ENT doc said "he is the best pediatric patient she has ever had". He continued to write us notes throughout the night and now can finally talk!

This morning after getting the intubtation tube out he asked for his Game Boy and has been playing off and on this morning. He is also happy to be back in his Spiderman boxers after getting his catheter out!

Once again our prayers have been answered! Thanks again for all of your support, we can feel it all the way out here in Memphis!

Love,
Kris, Jeff and Brandon

We spoke to Dr. Boop about 20 minutes ago [around 1:10 PM CDT]. He said that he was very pleased with the resection and that it went well. They were able to resect 100% of what they could see - this is incredible and not what we expected! Two individual pieces of tumor recurrence were removed, the one we knew about and a new piece near the 6th cranial (facial) nerve. They also drained and removed the cyst that was pushing against the brain stem. Brandon's vitals remained stable throughout the surgery and the blood vessels remained intact. During the surgery they determined that he had been aspirating and has developed a pneumonia. He developed a fever towards the end of surgery and they started him on antibiotics. They will keep his lungs and airway safe by keeping him intubated for 2-3 days to let him rest and let the docs take care of the pneumonia.

Prayers for recovery from pneumonia and for no trach. The ENT docs said there is a possibility he will need a trach but time will tell while in the ICU.

We can't thank you enough for your support and prayers today! We will keep you updated as we can.
Love,

Jeff, Kris and Brandon

Hi all, many of you have asked for an address of where we will be staying.

499 Carysbrook Cove
Memphis, TN 38120-2623

This is our friends David and Julie Douglas' home. We are so lucky to have them and to be able to stay with them during our time.
Brandon loves mail. Post card, card, whatever. Just a nice thing for him to look forward to each day!

Today was a great day and an emotional one of many goodbyes. Hard to be leaving and doing this once again but we feel so filled up by so much support and love,
thank you all!

K, J and B  

Hi all, we are getting ready to head to Memphis on Monday for Brandon's surgery on Wednesday the 26th. We of course are scared but know we've left no stone unturned when helping to decide with the doctors on how to best treat Brandon. He is doing better on the steroids. We can tell he is dealing with his emotions the best he can but it has been a tough week for him. We are so proud of Brandon, he is such a wonderful kid, full of strength as he continues forward on this journey. As his parents he has made this so much easier for us!

We will send out an update from the hospital on the 26th as soon as we can. We know there are so many of you out there that are praying for him and sending good thoughts to Memphis for him on that day. We want you all to know how much your love and support carries us through. In this journey you are all blessings we get along the way as we let you all lift us up with your love and support for our son.

We have been truly inspired by your support with the Brandon's Goal wristbands. It amazes us how far reaching our son's journey has been when we hear about people supporting Brandon we've never met. This journey with Brandon has truly shown us how prevalent the giving spirit is. It is humbling to be on the receiving side of so much support. When Brandon got well it felt so great to start our non-profit and help other families. Now Jeanne McDonald and her family are supporting us with the Brandon's Goal wristbands as they go through their fight against Hannah's tumor. It really is the generosity of others that makes this world turn round for us. So thank you to Jeanne and her family and to all of you for rallying behind Brandon as he enters what will be a difficult time.

We love you all and will do our best to get out timely updates as we go through surgery next week.

Jeff, Kris and Brandon

www.brandonsgoal.org  

Hi All, hope you're well. We've settled on a surgery date, it will be October 26th back at St. Jude. We are very scared but feel we are making the very best choice under the guidance of the very best doctors. His recovery should be about a week if all goes well. We still need to make a decision on the radiation, chemotherapy and treatment post surgery. We are still a bit torn here but are consulting two other radiation oncologists to help us with this decision. Brandon is becoming a bit symptomatic, we're not sure what the tumor is doing but he is having some headaches and extremity issues. So Children's sent us home with some steroids and pain meds that we started on Saturday. We hope this will keep him comfortable until we go. This morning we can see the effects of the steroids - lots of energy!

Brandon's 1st grade class made him a quilt with all of their handprints to take back with him to St Jude. They also made a photo album so he can look at his friends every day.

We love you all!
Kris, Jeff and Brandon

www.brandonsgoal.org
 

(click below for a larger image)

Brandon's_Class.JPG

Iron_Goat_Trail.JPG

Family-Oct'05.JPG

 

 

 

Hi all, we are back home.
Pretty heavy 3 days of meetings but Kris and I feel like we have a lot of information and will continue to consult our second opinions. NO SURGERY THIS WED. We decided this was too quick and Dr. Merchant said we could safely wait for a couple of weeks until he undergoes surgery. So likely the week of the 17th. The cyst is bigger and needs to be dealt with. The tumor has not grown but is presenting differently. We will wait to talk with the surgeon about this but there is a chance to the surgery could be a bit easier because of this new presentation.

We can't begin to tell you how full our hearts our with your wearing of Brandon's bands. This gives us a circle of support and solidarity we need right now. Brandon's face lit up when Jeanne gave him his and he is so proud, so thank you.

We will update you again once we know more!
Much love and friendship,
Kris, Jeff and Brandon

www.brandonsgoal.org

Hi all, Jeanne wanted me to forward this info to explain sizes and such to make this easier. We were so touched by how busy Jeanne has been today with your requests, thank you! It warms our hearts to have your support. Brandon is VERY excited about you all wearing his bands.

Contact Jeanne at mcdonaldclan6@msn.com

Make your order request for the # of bands you want and sizes:
Small - child ages 2-7
Medium - older child, teen and average adult
Large - men and loose fitting

Include your address to have them mailed if you live out of town or you can pick them up from Jeanne in Mukilteo or Anne D. in Bothell.

Make checks payable to "Jeff Brauns Family Donation Account". You can mail payment to Jeanne McDonald at 12563 63rd PL W Mukilteo, WA 98275

Thanks again, we so appreciate it! The $$ raised from this will help us with our stay here in Memphis for Brandon's surgery and radiation.

Much love and friendship,
Jeff, Kris and Brandon

Hi all, we're in Memphis and had a big day of meetings with the surgeon and radiation oncologist here at St. Jude. The consensus right now is that Brandon WILL NEED surgery for his tumor recurrence. It is up against the brain stem which creates some scary risks, BUT, the surgeon here is excellent and although there is a 10-15% chance Brandon could come out with some deficits he gives us a lot of hope he will do fine. The deficits could be needing a feeding tube again, a trach and there is a chance of a brain stem stroke. We are scared, confused and more confident after our meetings. It was a day of mixed emotions but we our getting our legs under us. We have agreed with the docs that if the MRI this Friday shows no growth then we would wait and scan again at the end of October. If it shows growth then we would likely want to move forward with a surgery date. We do have one for next Wed. the 5th but that is moving a little quicker than our heads and hearts are able to. But as we all know this journey has its ups and downs and you never seem to be on the same road for very long, so even though we think this is the plan today it could change!

There is a risk to waiting for growth, but it does not feel right to put Brandon through this now if he has no symptoms. He seems to be doing great, might be experiencing some slight symptoms but it is so hard to tell.

BRANDON'S WRIST BANDS - our good friends the McDonalds have graciously ordered wrist bands to support Brandon in his fight against his tumor. They are dark blue and have "Brandon's Goal" on them! You can order them from Jeanne for $5 by e-mailing or calling her. There are small, medium and large sizes. We can't wait to wear them to show our strength and hope for our boy. Thanks to the McDonalds for doing this.
Jeanne's # is 425-315-9775 E-mail is mcdonaldclan6@msn.com

Thanks for all of your support!
Much love and friendship,
Jeff, Kris and Brandon
 

Hi all, St. Jude Tumor board met yesterday and they want to move ahead with surgery and radiation. Jeff and I are scared but know that this is what we have to do to try and get Brandon well. The surgery in the words of the surgeon will be "formidable". We have all the confidence in the world in these guys. We will fly back next week for 3 days of tests for Brandon. We will come back home for a short week then fly back again for the surgery and 6 weeks of radiation.

We told Brandon this morning. Hard to read him, a few tears, will really miss school then asked to watch a cartoon. We know he will once again lead us courageously through this!

We will update you with dates as we know. We will again lean on your prayers and support as this will not be easy.

Much love and friendship,
Kris, Jeff and Brandon

Hi all, great news for Hannah McDonald and her family! The MRI showed her tumor being stable!! That is great news at this time for them, we are so happy. Thank you for your prayers.

We are still in limbo with Brandon's course of treatment, thus he still does not know. We will go to St. Jude next week for 3 days of tests, from there it could be surgery ASAP, a week later or a month later, don't know yet. They will talk about him at tumor board at St. Jude this Wed. and then call us with their recommendation.

Thanks for all of your prayers and Eagle stories! Love, Kris, Jeff and Brandon

Love, Kris, Jeff and Brandon

Hi all, spine was clean! Yeah, some good news!!
Children's tumor board met and the call we got was hard as we learn more about the high risk area where his tumor is located and the gravity of the decisions Jeff and I will have to make. Surgery still feels like the best option but how do you do that when you know what the risks are?? We are so lucky to have 2 of the best hospitals and staff in the country working so hard for him, they care a ton about our son. We will keep you posted, looks like back to St. Jude on the 28, 29 and 30th of this month then possible surgery the following week or week after that, we just don't know yet.

Please continue your prayers for Hannah and Sydney,
We love you all,
Kris, Jeff and Brandon

Hi all, Brandon had his brain MRI this morning and it came back stable compared to the scan on the 18th of August. This is good news and we are relieved that the sense of urgency has not grown. We will still go back to St. Jude at the end of this month for another MRI and a PET Scan and Lumbar puncture. Dr. Merchant is still of the thought we need to go ahead with the surgery the 1st week of October but at the same time said the surgeon might feel it is too small and we would scan again at the end of October. So a little "Wait and Watch" right now, but we are fine with that.

Brandon did great doing the MRI without being sedated. His friend Hannah gave him a little tip about asking for twice as much numbing agent for the IV, it worked!! Thanks Hannah! He had to ask me if the needle was in yet!

Please pray for Hannah and her family as her scan is on the 19th, next week, at 11am. We pray specifically for shrinkage of the tumor for such a special girl and family!

Both Children's and St. Jude will meet this week to discuss Brandon so we will update you as we know more! Thanks for all of your prayers and eagle sightings!

Love, Kris, Jeff and Brandon