Brave Like Brock

01/03/2025

1.2.25

Today was another scan day—it seems unreal that we are three years post treatment and almost four years from his original diagnosis. We got the high five from our oncologist for clear scans and got to say hello to some of our favorite doctors and nurses. We can breathe easier now for a little while and this marks another milestone—scans every 6 months instead of 4. The further we get away from the end of Brock’s initial treatment, the less likely he is to have a relapse, thus the greater time between scans. Scan days and the days leading up to it will probably never feel easy or routine, but I am thankful for a little more breathing room between our visits.

We had bloodwork done today for endocrinology, who we will visit again in April. Right now we are in a watch and wait pattern, as Brock is growing, but still more slowly than typical. We know his radiation impacted his pituitary because of the location of his tumor, but we are being patient before making a decision to potentially start growth hormones as Brock would have to continue them through puberty.

Pics: post-scan pancakes and showing off some of his many jerseys Brock got for Christmas.

08/23/2024

8.23.24

Tomorrow Brock turns 7. It’s a bittersweet moment for me. He has spent half his young life dealing with cancer and its after effects. And in so many ways, he’s mature beyond his years because of it. But he’s also just a kid.

He’s a kid who loves sports of all kinds, video games, playing with his friends, Lego, wrestling, and occasionally still snuggling with his mom. Looking at him, you’d never know all he has been through and the things he continues to deal with as a result of his diagnosis. And we’re the lucky ones. We have our little boy when so many other families don’t have the same happy ending.

Over this past week we were reminded of just how fortunate we have been and continue to be. Brock went in last Thursday for his regularly scheduled MRI. As a part of the process he also gets a chest x-ray because, if his cancer were to spread, it would most likely be to his lungs. To be honest, this part of the process had always been an afterthought for me. And it was on Thursday as well. Brock woke up from anesthesia and we hustled up to the oncology clinic to see our doctor and get the MRI results. There was no evidence of disease/stable scans 32 months after treatment ended. It was slightly odd, but not entirely unusual, that the chest x-ray results had not come back yet. We returned home and went about life.

When I awoke on Saturday morning, I had an alert from the Vanderbilt Health app on my phone that a new test result was available. I opened the app and read the results: 7mm ovoid opacity projecting over right lung, not seen on prior. Possibly a vessel or a nodule, but was not in the range of other vessels. Recommend CT follow up.

My heart sank, and I immediately messaged our care team. Then I had the task of telling Ryan. We tried our best to go about our day as normal, and our oncologist called us while we were out running errands. He said he thought it was not a recurrence, but wanted to schedule imaging to be sure. We asked that he have a CT as soon as possible and Dr. B said he’d put in the orders for it to be scheduled for next week. Early Monday, we were able to get his CT and a repeat x-ray put on the schedule for Tuesday morning.

The results came back clear later Tuesday morning, and I felt like I could breathe again for the first time since Saturday morning. Honestly, it was the most scared I’d ever been that we might lose him. We know several things about Brock’s cancer, but the most important things for this post is that 1) if his cancer comes back it’s significantly more difficult to beat and 2) if his cancer had spread, it’s significantly more difficult to beat. To be blindsided by the potential for both of these outcomes to be true was just awful.

When Brock went through his initial treatment, I never let myself consider that the treatment wouldn’t work or that he wouldn’t get better. This had nothing to do with anything other than I simply didn’t have the time or energy to focus on the possibility or to dwell on those fears. It was all we could do to put one foot in front of the other every day knowing the only way out way through this awful diagnosis.

But last week, I watched my healthy, happy, sweet boy and I was paralyzed with fear as life swirled on around us. Obviously to say I’m relieved would be an understatement. But it was a poignant reminder not to take our good fortune for granted and to cherish every day.

So tomorrow, we celebrate 7 years with our sweet, talkative, energetic, tenacious, and brave little Brock.

12/14/2023

12.14.23

Two years off treatment and scans looked good today! We are still waiting on the official read, but the oncologist wasn’t concerned. Two years feels like a big milestone. With rhabdomyosarcoma, the risk of recurrence decreases significantly the further you are from end of treatment. The oncologist said two years is a fist bump celebration, three is a high five, and at five years you pop champagne. I’ll take the fist bump for now.

We are still waiting on blood work to come back to see if there’s any underlying issue with Brock’s growth hormones, but after everything he’s been through that will be a minor bump in the road.

Brock missed polar express day at school today, so his teacher gave him his bell early and he wore his pjs to the hospital. Now we can really start celebrating Christmas break!

08/17/2023

8.17.23

We had 20 month off treatment scans today and everything came back normal! For us, life feels like it has (finally) mostly gotten back to normal. When Brock was having treatment life was just about making it through each day. Then when treatment was finished, it took a while for us to process everything that had happened during his year of treatments.

In big news, Brock started kindergarten last week! He loves it, but is exhausted every day when he gets home.

As far as medical news, Brock will be having cataract surgery on his right eye sometime this fall. When he went to his ophthalmologist a few weeks ago, his vision had decreased significantly. This was not unexpected as cataracts are a common radiation side effect and his radiation was very close to that eye. We meet with Brock’s surgeon later this month to set out a plan and schedule his surgery.

No more scans until December.

12/02/2022

12.2.22

One year off treatment. Clear scans. We really couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift.

It’s hard to ever feel a sense of relief when your child has had cancer, but yesterday I felt like we were able to relax and take a deep breath for one of the first times since February 2021.

Last Christmas, we were still exhausted and processing all of the challenges of the year before and still nervously waiting off treatment scans, and a moment like this was beyond our imagination.

Brock is 5, healthy, happy, and energetic. You would never know by looking at him everything he has been through.

Going forward, Brock will still have MRI scans every 4 months next year, and continuing periodically for 3 years after that. We are still not out of the woods, but the further Brock progresses from the end of initial treatment, the chance of recurrence decreases.

Pictured: post-scan Pancake Pantry lunch and sleeping off the anesthesia in the oncology clinic waiting room.

11/14/2022

What a difference a year makes. As we approach this season of Thanksgiving, I can’t help but compare it to where we were last year, with Brock almost finished with chemo. Now he’s almost a year off treatment, and we have our 1 year scans on December 1. Thankful for a happy, healthy Brock.

09/17/2022

September is childhood cancer month, and as I’m sitting here reflecting on where we were last September, 2021 seems both like it was so long ago, and yet is still such a fresh memory.

Approximately 17,000 children in the U tied States are diagnosed with cancer each year. Rhabdomyosarcoma affects approximately 250-350 kids per year. Brock’s cancer was in his orbit, which is the most common location, but there are only about 35 new cases per year. Those numbers sound so small until it’s your child.

Our family was so fortunate to have a wonderful care team, flexible jobs, and friends and family to provide support. And still, it was so hard. The fear, seeing your child sick, and in pain—all of it takes a toll.

But this morning, I took our boys to our local police department’s annual cruise in with the cops. We missed 2021, because cancer, but I looked back at the photos from 2020 and the ones I took today. It’s amazing how much our boys have grown—but looking at the pictures you’d never know what we went through during the time between the two pictures were taken.

08/19/2022

8.19.22

Brock turns 5 on Wednesday and we got the best early birthday present yesterday. Brock had his 9 month off treatment scans and everything came back clear!

We don’t go back again until December 1 when he will have been off treatment for a year.

Brock continues to amaze us all—his vision has improved and so far there are no lasting side effects. He’s back in daycare and playing baseball.

05/11/2022

5.11.22

Brock had his 6 month off treatment scans yesterday. Everything came back looking good! We see our oncologists tomorrow just for a check-in and we’ll do it all again in 3 more months.

It is so hard to believe that this time last year we were living in Cincinnati while Brock had radiation. As you can see from the pics, his hair is coming back in and he’s filled back out. Seeing him every day during treatment, we didn’t realize just how sick he looked, but the difference in pictures from last year and now are shocking to see.

We are slowly getting back into a routine that doesn’t involve weekly (or sometimes daily) doctor visits and looking forward to a fun summer.

04/10/2022

4.9.22

Pretty sure Brock would describe this as the best night ever if he didn’t fall asleep in the car on the way home.

He got invited to be a part of Vanderbilt Children’s and Nashville Predators Hockey Fights Cancer Night. From his own jersey to amping up the crowd and bumping fists with the Preds players, it was a wonderful night and he was living his best life.

Seeing Brock so happy and full of energy and thinking about where we were this time last year just puts everything into perspective

03/31/2022

3.31.22

Brock continues to do well. Our last visit with the eye doctor showed no cataracts, and only slightly impaired vision in his right eye.

But earlier this week we were introduced to another local family who’s son, Waylon, was just diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in his abdomen. Waylon is only a few months older than Brock and they shared a daycare teacher (Jenn Knight) for a bit.

As you all know, the costs associated with cancer treatment and caring for a child undergoing treatment can be overwhelming. Ryan and I were incredibly fortunate to have flexible jobs that allowed us to work around Brock’s treatments, but most don’t have that luxury.

Please keep Waylon and his family in your thoughts and if you can donate to help offset some of the expenses associated with his care over the next several months.

https://gofund.me/00d535d3

Hi, my name is Grace Walls. I, among so many friends, am creating this page to help a family that is dear… Grace Walls needs your support for Waylon Will Win

02/27/2022

2.27.22

Brock is still cancer free! On Monday we had Brock’s first post-treatment MRI. We met with our oncologist on Thursday and got the news that the scar tissue continues to light up less on the MRI and there were no concerning changes.

Brock no longer has to take an antibiotic on the weekends, but otherwise not much has changed. We will continue to get scans every three months for the first couple of years.

We have an appointment with our ophthalmologist on Tuesday, so hoping his vision continues to improve.

01/24/2022

1.24.22

Brock was able to get his port out last Thursday. That was the last big procedure hopefully for a long time. We have scans at the end of February and ophthalmology appointments over the next couple of months.

We will be forever grateful for the treatment Brock received at Vanderbilt. Over the past year, we have met so many others who also credit Vanderbilt with helping them battle cancer. In the spirit of paying it forward, we (Amber) and a few friends are teaming up to raise funds for cancer research at Vanderbilt.

I encourage you to check out the link, give if you feel led, or even create your own team.

https://give.vanderbilthealth.org/team/402492

Help us raise funds to support cancer research at Vanderbilt!

12/07/2021

12.7.21

10 months, 5 days. That’s how long it’s been since Brock’s CT that showed “something” behind his eye. Two days later on February 4 (which, coincidentally is World Cancer Day) Brock was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.

After 10 months, 5 days that included 28 sessions of proton radiation, 59 sessions of chemotherapy, 2 hospital stays, multiple ER trips, 2 PET scans, 4 MRIs, 2 biopsies (tumor and bone marrow), and one port placement we celebrate that Brock is cancer-free!

Brock’s scans from Friday and Monday showed precisely what we had hoped for. There is still some dead tissue remaining, but this is to be expected because the tumor couldn’t be completely removed. We will continue to monitor with MRIs every three months to make sure Brock doesn’t relapse.

Unfortunately, rhabdomyosarcoma is a tricky cancer and relapse is a possibility. However, the risk of relapse decreases significantly the further away a patient is from end of initial therapy. So while today we celebrate, we are also cognizant of the risks Brock faces in the coming months. But, if 2021 has taught us anything, it’s to treasure the time we have and worry less about what tomorrow could bring.

Thursday we will meet with the oncology team to discuss next steps. Brock will get his port out soon, and he’ll continue on preventative antibiotics for a few months while his body continues to recover from chemotherapy. We’ll also continue to meet with our ophthalmologists to continue to monitor Brock’s vision and address any lasting side effects.

Today as we celebrate Brock, we are so thankful for all of you who have supported us throughout this year.

11/20/2021

11.20.21 (part 2)

More from Brock’s last day of chemo. Hugging Ms. Elisha, holding his certificate, and of course, checking out his treats from mom and dad.

We go in for labs Wednesday, then no more appointments until his PET scan on 12/3.

11/20/2021

11.20.21

This guy finished chemo today! Thanks to our wonderful clinic nurses for sending us home with this song.

11/13/2021

We’re heading into our last week of chemo! If all goes well, he will finish chemo one week from today. Needless to say, we’ll have a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving!

Our journey won’t ever really be over, but hopefully we’ll see our doctors much les a frequently after this! Brock has scans (12/3 and 12/6) and his last on treatment appointment on 12/9. If everything looks good, we won’t be back for three months—when he’ll have another scan. Oncology will keep monitoring him every three months for at least the first year or two to make sure the cancer doesn’t come back. After the first year, we’ll also start visiting the survivorship clinic where they will monitor Brock’s progress and help us with any long-term effects from chemo and radiation.

Meanwhile, here’s a couple of versions of Brock’s commercial for Make-A-Wish.

https://youtu.be/9AIqdmpen60

https://youtu.be/jQWYgsadFek