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Our Brad
Brad had reached that time in his life when he was settling down and developing into his own man. For the most part enjoyed his job as a computer technician and being able to work in a field that he loved. He had his own apartment and his life was blossoming and he was looking forward to a great future.
Brad was a kind, gentle spirit who was very caring and compassionate. He would do anything to help a friend and never expected anything in return, other than to know that he was doing the right thing. I was never aware of Brad ever holding a grudge against anyone, yet there were times when he experienced the actions of cruel and insensitive people. He had a great sense of what was morally right and wrong and stood up for his convictions. He cared about the injustices that everyday people lived with. Brad was really special to us and a truly remarkable young man.
At school, teachers would always comment on his willingness to help other students with projects and sharing his creative ideas. Clearly this would be a field that he would excel in.
As he grew up and become a young man he was always willing to drop by and visit with us and share events going on in his life. We built a close bond and felt that we had raised a wonderful young man that would make an impact on somebody's life one day.
Our journey started one late summer afternoon when Brad was over at the house helping his Dad fix the fence. When he came inside I noticed an unusual spot on his back and mentioned that to him. He was not at all concerned and thought it was just an insect bite. Something inside me felt that we should have this checked out, much to Brad's objections.
A couple of days later we had an appointment to see the Doctor and I could tell by the expression on her face that this was a little more serious than an insect bite. The next thing we knew we had an appointment the following morning to see a Dermatologist. This is where we learned the news that this was Melanoma, a deadly form of Skin Cancer. The following day we were at the hospital scheduled for surgery and a Sentinal Lymph Node biopsy. All this occurred within a two-day time frame, from the time of the first doctor visit and it was just an unbelievable series of events that left us stunned and shocked. What in the world just happened?
Brad was 25 and on March 9, 2002 we heard that awful diagnosis; Cancer. Our world changed almost overnight and we were on a mission to find out as much as we could about this disease and what treatment options were available to us. Brad was diagnosed with Stage III Melanoma, after his initial surgery. His oncologist surgeon found that it had already spread into the lymph nodes in his back and armpits. We understood that once this type of cancer metastasized to an area other that the original site the prognosis was not good and his chances of survival decreased, with a 65% -80% possibility that the disease would return.
We were in shock and disbelief that this was now apart of our lives and the outcome for Brad was devastating. Amazing as it sounds, he took it all in his stride and handled this like other challenges he had to deal with. Our next step was to schedule an appointment at the world renown M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to find out what the treatment protocol would be for his stage of disease.
We embarked on the Interferon regime for a year, which consisted of thirty straight days of IV interferon followed by injections three times a week administered by the patient and check-ups every three months. All appeared to be going well for a year and there was no evidence that the cancer had returned. Brad seemed to be feeling better and adjusting to his new life-style and things started to return to normal.
October 1, 2004 Brad had come over for a visit and complained of feeling unwell, tired and seemed to have had frequent upset stomachs. This was like an alarm bell going off and we knew we had to get down to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center as quickly as possible. We drove down the next day and were squeezed in and Brad under went a whole battery of tests. When the results came back the prognosis was very grim and the only course of action was to begin bio-chemotherapy, a very toxic group of drugs and immune system stimulators. After his first round of treatment it did not look good, but we decided to continue on for another round and then make a determination on how to proceed. I camped with Brad in his hospital room so that he would have company and someone to talk to when he felt up to it.
It was truly heart-breaking to watch Brad go through this horrible regime and see how ill the treatments were making him, and yet he never complained about his lot in life and the hand he had been dealt. He felt that the best way to deal with this was to try and continue to lead as normal a life as possible and see as many friends as he could in the time he had left. He knew his days were numbered even though this was something we never discussed.
As Brad's mother it has taken me a long time to get to the place where I feel that I can finally put into words what the loss of my son to melanoma cancer at the age of 27 has done to me, and how it has devastated my family.
I will always love you Brad and wish that we could have had more time together. | 
