5 months....and counting!

Wow, it's been 2 months since I've updated. Guess no news is good news, huh? The months have been flying by. I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving already. That means Christmas is right around the corner. Am I the only one who thinks Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year? The stores around here are already playing Christmas music. I L-O-V-E Christmas, but the beginning of November is way too early for me.

The countdown is officially on. In April of 2009 Brendon will be all done with treatment. While that is extremely exciting, it also a little unreal. It makes me wonder what our life will be like without the huge amounts of daily pills, monthly labs and trips to Scarborough and all of the other parts involved with treatment. The staff at the Maine Children's Cancer Program will always be a part of our lives. Usually when we go to the clinic for the monthly chemo we end up visiting for a while.. Sometimes we are there for an hour, sometimes more.. We went last week and it was such a quick visit. We were in and out in record time. Brendon grew almost an inch in a month. They had to measure him 3 times to make sure it was correct. He's growing up so fast! His port is still really sensitive, even after all of this time. He was in pain when they were accessing it, but he toughed it out. He is so excited to get it taken out.

Health wise there is not a whole lot to report on. He's struggled with a cough/cold for the last month, but it doesn't seem to slow him down too much. This is the week with his 5 days of steroids so he's been a little moody. It hasn't been too bad, but he's definitely not himself. Tomorrow is the last day....Amen for that!

He has joined the basketball team at school, which he's loving. Thursday nights are very busy with basketball practice followed by band practice. I'm definitely not complaining because it is great to have him involved with activities that he enjoys. Tonight was his first game and it was so exciting! I can not explain to you how much it meant to me to watch him running up and down the court like a normal boy. I was clapping and screaming so loud for him. Andy wanted to move away from me... Not sure why?? :) The game ended in a tie which was a bummer, but Bren made 2 or 3 baskets. He's such a team player. I know that I am biased, but he has such a sweet spirit. He told me that one of his friends on the team was upset because he missed a basket and Brendon told him not to worry about it because they were still up by 4 points. That's my boy! I am so proud of him. Here's a picture of him at the foul shot line. It's kind of far away, but it's him. He's so stinkin' cute.. Did I already mention how proud of him I am??

School wise, Brendon is doing excellent. He's on the honor roll with all A's and B's. The only issue he has is that he likes to talk too much in class.. Huh. Must get that from his dad? Have I mentioned that he has a girlfriend? Yep, he does. Have I also mentioned that he's almost 11 now and loves to inform me (almost daily) that he'll be driving in 4 years?

In early October we went to a mud run in Livermore Falls. For those of you who don't know what a mud run is, it's when pick up trucks and other cars/four wheelers/jeeps/etc. are all tricked out with giant tires and stuff and they drive through the mud. It's kind of cool. Brendon and I had never been to one before so we stopped. My favorite part was when the wife of one of the drivers drove through the huge puddle (Can you call it a puddle? It looked more like quicksand to me. I'm not sure what the technical term for it is.) and she beat the boys' time. I was so excited for her! I'm thinking mud running might be my new hobby. Maybe I can get a really pretty pink sparkly truck? Here are some pictures from that:

After the mud run we went apple picking in Turner. They have an apple sling-shot which is our favorite part of apple picking. I am usually the photographer while the boys try to get the apples to fly as far as they can. It's a lot of fun. Here are my two favorite pictures from the apple sling shot (Look at the concentration):

Halloween was fun. Andy had to work until 6:30 so Brendon and I started out on our own and Andy met up with us later. We walked around the neighborhood. We met up with Bren's friend Dominique and we continued on. They both got a lot of candy. I didn't take any pictures. I'm horrible.. We were in such a rush and he was so excited. He missed last year because he was so sick. It's the small things that we used to take for granted that we now really appreciate. He was the scary mask guy from Scream. It was gross so he loved it. He's past the age of the really cute and cuddly costumes. Now it's scary or gross...or both if possible.

My Uncle Dan and my cousin Alan taught Brendon how to play pool at a family reunion last weekend. He really likes it. Now one of the items on his Christmas list is a pool table. He's also taken up golf. He hasn't been to an actual golf course, but he loves to go to Roy's and hit golf balls.

Brendon's braces should be coming off in another month or so. He still has a lot of his baby teeth so he'll probably need braces again when the teeth come out. It will be a wait and see thing. Right now his teeth are so straight. He looks gorgeous!

Brendon was baptized at our church on November 9th. It was such an emotional thing. We talked to him about the meaning behind it and let him make the decision. We were all so proud of him! One more event that happened was Youth Day for deer hunting. Brendon went out in the afternoon with his Dad for the first time. They had a good time, but they didn't see anything. They are going back out on Saturday. Maybe he'll get one then. It's still a little nerve-wracking to think of my son in the woods with a gun. Thankfully he has always been taught the proper way to handle himself around the woods. He has a great respect for guns and their safety. Here is a picture of the Great Hunters:
I think that's it for now.. I can't think of anything else really exciting that has happened. We are just enjoying the normal, everyday life.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers as we get closer and closer to the end of this journey..
~Amber

7 months to go!!

Brendon has 7 more months of chemotherapy! It's hard to believe. It seems like it has gone by so fast and yet so slow at times. Thank you all for the support, prayers and thoughts. We are truly blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives.

We are sad to say that Savannah Hurley passed away on August 8th. We were unable to attend the funeral. It was very hard to tell Brendon that she passed away. He understands that she is in a better place now and is no longer in pain, but it's hard for him to understand why the doctor's couldn't cure her. We had a long discussion about the different types of cancer and how tough some of them are to treat. It's hard for me to understand it so I don't expect him to understand. He's even more determined to find a cure for cancer now.

Brendon has been doing well. Last month we had a few scares and illnesses, but thankfully it wasn't anything too horrible. He had a fever of 101.5 last month which meant a late night trip to the ER to have his blood drawn and a dose of antibiotics. All the results came back fine. His blood counts were great and his strep throat test came back negative. It was just a virus and he seemed to be doing much better the next morning. He's been battling something on and off for about a month now and no one is really sure what it is. His voice has been really hoarse, he's been coughing and blowing his nose a lot. He did go to the doctor for a chest x-ray and some more labs to rule out pneumonia or bronchitis. They all looked normal, which was great. It might just be allergies. It seems to be the time for them..

This summer flew by! Brendon is doing very well in school. He's a 5th grader now and he's loving it. He's decided to join the band and learn to play the drums. He's always wanted to play them, so I guess now is a good time. He's also on the student council, which he is very excited about.


We went to Funtown with Andy's work before school started and had a blast. Brendon really loves Dragon's Descent and this year he was able to talk his dad into going on. The first time Bren and I went on it was a few years ago and I screamed like a little girl. Brendon cried when we were at the top and I was trying to calm both of us down (while trying really hard not to swear and tramatize the kids next to us..). When it dropped us I thought I was going to die. It was scary, but awesome! Brendon LOVED it once he went through the entire thing. Now he's hooked on it. Andy really liked it and he's not a ride kind of guy. Here's a picture of Bren and Andy on the big swings.
Brendon and I went to see the Blue Angels with Make-A-Wish at the beginning of this month. It was so great! He got to skip school and I got to skip work for the day. We had great seats and the weather was gorgeous! They had Megasaurus (which is like a fire breathing-transformer-tank kind of thing) which was pretty cool. Brendon and all of the other Wish kids got to meet the Blue Angels after the show. Those men are so amazing. They were so polite and kind to all of the kids. The kids were able to get autographs and then pose for pictures with the pilots. It was a lot of fun.

We also went to York's Wild Kingdom with the Maine Children's Cancer Program. It was so much fun. We had never been there before. Brendon went on a paddle boat for the first time. He thought it was really cool, although he had issues with steering it.. Thankfully there were not a lot of people around us when we got stuck in the corner.. :) Here are some pictures from York's Wild Kingdom.

Behind Brendon's Grandparent's house in Buckfield there were a ton of wild blackberries. Andy and I went away for our anniversary the last week of August so Brendon stayed with Andy's parents. When we got to the house to pick him up he was picking blackberries with his Grampa and his Great Aunt Esther and Great Uncle Billy. When he got back this is what he looked like...

Cute, huh? They had fun.

Last weekend Brendon's home health nurse got married on Peak's Island and we were invited. Unfortunately we missed the ferry and Bren wasn't feeling good. He had a nasty cough and I think it all worked out for the best because he really wouldn't have been able to enjoy himself. We are all bummed that we missed it. Congratulations Mel and George!

I'd like to end with a funny story about what happened after Brendon and I went to York's Wild Animal Kingdom with the Maine Children's Cancer Program. While we were there Bren was using his money (which was in his wallet) to pay for games and other small things that he wanted to do. When we got home that night he was looking in his wallet and realized that his hunting license was gone. He asked me if I had it, which I didn't. We went through the standard "Where's the last place you had it?", "Are you sure you brought it with you?", etc.. He finally said that he thought it fell out at York's Wild Kingdom. He was extremely upset because this is his first year hunting and his dad told him to make sure he hangs on to his license. I told him that we would call Andy (he was at work) to ask if it could just be reprinted. He said (and I quote), "Mom, the worst part is is that my license has all of my information on it. You know, my address, my name and my date of birth. All that security stuff. What about my identity?"... I tried so hard not to laugh because honestly, what 10 year old worries about identity theft?? I told him that he is 10 and that I didn't think anyone would steal his identity. It was a classic moment. I'm still laughing about it as I type! He's so funny. Turns out we can just re-print it so all is well. Now I'll just have to check his credit reports for fraud! :)

Take care everyone!

Much Love,
~Amber

**This post was written and originally posted on 7/16/08 but I deleted it by accident while trying to fix the pictures on 7/17/08. Sorry! Ellen, I deleted your comment by accident also. I am such a nerd!**

I start this post on a very sad note. Our hearts are very sad because tonight at the clinic we learned that a little girl that we have come to know and care about is losing her battle with cancer. Her name is Savannah and she is 7 years old. She has been given a couple of weeks to live. As I write this, I am struggling to hold it together. I spoke to her mom today and I am at a total loss.. Savannah's mom, Melissa, is such an amazing person. When I think of Savannah I think of all the times that we were in the hospital "together". She is nicknamed "Princess Savannah" because she loves princesses. I have to admit that we never really had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Savannah, it was just a few times that we would see her. Her mom and I clicked when we met.. It's hard to explain how it is when you meet other parents of children with cancer. It's like you have so much in common and you don't have to worry about what to say because they understand. Savannah had her hair colored pink the first time we met her. We would see her running around the hospital in her princess nightgown and sometimes the nurses would paint her nails for her. She is a little peanut and it breaks my heart that she is leaving this world before she has truly had the chance to experience life. I take comfort in the fact that she is surrounded by friends and family who love her. I also take EXTREME comfort in knowing that she will no longer be suffering and will be in a much better place. God must really miss her so that's why He's decided to take her home. The other thought I have is that it could be Brendon. All I can do is hold my son tight and praise God that he has chosen to heal him. Brendon is taking the news pretty hard, but he's also thinking of things that we can do for them. He has such an amazing heart! I am so proud of him. So, please keep Savannah and her family in your prayers. They are certainly in ours. Here is a link to read a story that was written about her in the paper in January of 2008. You can also google "Savannah Hurley". There are some great stories and even an interview with her mom via YouTube. What an amazing family!

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/245780-3/Franklin/New_drugs_strong_faith_give_girl_hope/

Now to talk about what has been going on with Brendon lately..

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. It's been almost 2 months! Wow, where has the time gone?? Things have been good, just busy. Standard, everyday life. It seems wrong to post about all of the happy stuff after starting the post with such sad news. I want to share the good with the bad..

Brendon is awesome. There is no other word for him. He is turning into such a great young man! He is so polite and thoughtful. He seems to be growing up overnight. I love to listen to his ideas and his goals. I am realizing how little time I have left with him before he moves away. He informed me that he is almost 11 the other day. I had to stop and think, but he's right. He was exactly 10 1/2 on June 25th. Holy Cow! Where has the time gone? I'm sad, but so proud. He is so magnetic. We have several kids in the neighborhood who always want to play with Brendon and he is so good with them all, even though they vary in age from 5 to 14. He has an amazing spirit and a huge heart. I see him with other children and I am blown away by his unselfishness. Don't get me wrong, he is far from perfect. He has his meltdowns and temper tantrums like any other person. I still have them and I'm almost 30! Overall he is just a great guy! Again, we are so proud of him!

We all participated in the Relay for Life in Augusta on June 2oth. It was such an emotional time for all of us. We met so many great people and saw so many things! Brendon met a man named Jason who was just diagnosed with lymphoma at the end of April. My heart ached for him because he is married and has 2 small children and now is facing the unknown. All night long our thoughts kept going back to him and what he's going through. Brendon and Jason formed an instant bond. I can't explain it, but I left feeling like we had gained another family member. Even if we never see him again he will always hold a special place in our hearts. Brendon was talking to him about the different treatments and procedures he has been through and my eyes just welled up with tears. Jason was touched by Brendon's strength and told Brendon that he was inspired by him. Brendon is so strong! He doesn't even know how many lives he has touched. Or how many people he has inspired. Keep up the fight Jason and family! We are praying for you guys!

The first week of July Brendon and I babysat my friend Tricia's son. His name is Zander and he is the cutest kid ever! He just turned 6 months old the other day. He was so much fun. Brendon and I enjoyed spoiling him rotten and just playing with him. I miss the baby stage sometimes. Anyway, here is a picture of Brendon and Zander.. The Fourth of July was good. We didn't do too much. We had a cookout at Andy's parent's house which was a lot of fun. Brendon got to play with his cousins and a couple of other kids and the adults got to visit. Then we went to the fireworks in Auburn. They were quick, but it was still cool. Brendon met up with our neighbor in the parking lot so he had a friend to sit with during it. It was great because usually after the fireworks in Auburn there is a LONG, LONG wait to get out but this year because of where we parked we were able to get right out.

Brendon has been going to summer day camp for almost 2 weeks now. He loves it! They go to the beach and do all kinds of activities. I was very nervous for him on his first day but he did great. He's made lots of new friends and is learning all kinds of new things. He learned what "OMG" in the texting world means the other day. He loves to come home and tell us things that he thinks we don't know. I love it when he asks me if I know what it means and when I tell him he gives me that shocked look. Like I'm so old that there's NO WAY I could know what he's talking about. It's pretty funny!

Brendon's appointment at the clinic today went well. His counts are right where they should be. He is feeling good and looking good. He has 9 months of treatment left. That's it! It seems like the time has flown by. He is now able to stop taking 2 pills a day which he was pretty excited about. He still has quite a few so any amount taken away is a great thing! Tomorrow he starts the steroids for 5 days so it will be walking on egg shells until they are out of his system. His mood swings are pretty bad on days 2 and 3. I try not to give him meds unless he really needs them so we get to hug him when he's sad and stay clear when he's mad. It's lots of fun! Thankfully it's only 5 days out of the month for the next 9 months.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure there is a lot of stuff I missed, but I'm just too tired to keep typing. I've started this post 3 times but I haven't had the time to finish it until now and it's now 11:30pm. I'll update again soon.

Much Love, Amber

Hopefully all of you mothers out there had a great Mother's Day! Mine was great. Brendon made me a beautiful card and got me a necklace and a dress that I wanted. My aunt took him shopping for it and he was so excited to give it to me. I love how excited he gets to give me things! He's so sweet. We went out to Longhorn with the family for dinner. It was a very nice day.

Brendon has been very busy lately. Here's an update on what he's been up to......

He has helped build a deck (with his Uncle Tommy, cousin Danny, Dad, Aunt Sherry, Meme and me.. It was a family effort) for his Grandmother.


He went to his Uncle Tommy's college graduation. Brendon looks up to his Uncle Tommy so much! We had some family come up from out of state and it was great to see them. We had a graduation party for Tommy and we were able to see family members that we hadn't seen for a while. We all had a great time! Here is a picture of Brendon with his Uncle Tommy and his Pepere.

Brendon has been at the orthodontist once a week for the past month. They have been checking his progress for expanding his upper jaw. He finally reached the point where he does not have to crank twice a day anymore. Now we just wait for the gaps to fill in and then see where we are at. Here is a picture of his smile now. He is not at all embarrassed by the giant gap in between his front teeth. He is such a confident kid! He still smiles really big and doesn't even worry about his lisp.

He had his appointment at the clinic for his chemotherapy on 5/21. On the way up Bren and I were talking about whether or not he has grown in the last month. We both thought that he had, but we weren't sure how much. Imagine our surprise when they told us he grew almost 2 inches! He also lost 5 pounds. He's getting taller and leaner. His white blood counts are still pretty low, only 1.5. Everything else looks good. He had his PET scan and CT scan on 5/28 (just to make sure that everything is still gone) and we were all pretty nervous for the results. Brendon was so anxious that he was vomiting most of the morning. I think it was a combination of nerves, hunger and the fact that he hasn't been sleeping as much. We finally received the results on Friday and........drum roll please........ EVERYTHING CAME BACK NORMAL!!!! No new masses or anything! Praise God! We are all feeling much better now that we know. This disease is sneaky so we are cautiously optimistic. There is always the chance that it may come back, but we try not to dwell on that.

Last week Brendon received a package in the mail from Drake Middle School in Arvada, CO. He was so touched when he opened the package and found cards, a big poster and a note. He kept saying, "How did they find out about me? I wonder how they know I have cancer.". As he read the note inside we found out that it was from Brendon's Uncle Robert's (Andy's sister Lisa's husband) sister Monika... Did you follow that? :) The things those kids wrote brought tears to my eyes! I'd just like to say thank you so much to all of those kids! Ashton, George, Hannah, Bronte (LOVE the expression "Hope and Effort inspires success"!!), T.J., Ashleigh, Danielle, Kristin, Kassie, Rachel, Tory, Jason, Alex, Nate, Nick, Tanner, Kevin, and anyone else I may have missed. You guys are amazing! I hope that you know how much joy you brought to a little boy's life by sending him cards! Thank you so much!!

Brendon was also in the paper for the Walk for Wishes the other day. His picture was there as a child who received a wish.

The walk was on 5/29 and it was a lot of fun. Brendon got to be the "Grand Marshall" and lead the walk. Him and one of his wish granters, Frank Ayotte, held the Make-A-Wish sign and lead the pack. Our team raised a little over $1800. Thank you so much for everything that you all did to help us! Thanks for the donations and thanks to the people who helped spread the word! Altogether the Lewiston walk raised around $22,000. That is an awesome thing! Brendon got to help call names for raffle winnings and other activities. There were police officers that were escorting us and there were firefighters there also. Here is a slide show of the walk. There were 2 fire trucks on opposite sides of the road with their ladders up with a giant flag hung from the extended ladders that we all got to walk under. It was a beautiful site to see.

That's pretty much it for right now. Sorry it's been so long since the last post and sorry this post is so long. School is almost done and Brendon will be going to a day summer camp. He is very pumped to have 4th grade behind him. It's been a tough year for him.

Have a great night everyone! Take care.

*Amber*

One Year Down...... One to go!!

Well, as you can see by the title we have reached the one year mark. Monday marked one year since Brendon's diagnosis. How our lives have changed since then! We have spent the last few days reflecting on the past year and remembering where we were on April 21st, 2007. Life as we knew it at the time was forever changed. That was the day that we were at the hospital finding out that our only child had cancer. It's something that we never even imagined would happen to us. Andy and I have talked a lot about how much we have changed. We have grown up and we have grown closer. There were times that I wanted to fall apart, but Andy was there to pick me up. There were days when Andy wanted to fall apart, but I was there to pick him up. Our relationship has forever been changed. We both found out that we are made of tougher stuff than we thought. We also found out how great our family and friends are. It made us appreciate our son so much more. I think we took him for granted before all of this. We did too many other things when we should have been focusing on the privilege we have of being parents. We have now realized that money is not everything and the true way to show your love for your child is to spend time with them. When Brendon is 18 and he looks back on his childhood I want him to remember the times we spent as a family, not the things we bought for him. Even if it's just doing yard work, I hope that he always knows how much he means to us. There are days when he gets on our nerves, but there are also days when we get on his nerves. We are now able to communicate in a much healthier way when things are upsetting us. I feel so sad that our little boy has had to experience so many grown up things at such a young age! On the other hand I am so thankful that he is still able to be a child. He tries so hard to be grown up. I can't tell you how many times I hear "But Mom, I'm a man! I can do that!". I promptly tell him that he is WAY too young to be a man at age 10! He has the rest of his life to be a man (after 18.. or maybe 25...). I get so emotional when I think of the amount of faith and trust that he has to put in our hands. He has someone making life-altering decisions for him and he doesn't even know it. I am so humbled at his complete trust in us when he has aches and pains. He has no doubt that I can fix things for him. Here are pictures taken a few days before his diagnosis and a picture of him now. How he has changed!

4/9/07

4/21/08

We spent the day on Monday together as a family. We went mini-golfing, had some burgers from Roy's and then we had a party. We invited our family over to surprise Bren with an anniversary celebration. He was so excited! He had been asking for a new bike and we surprised him with the one he wanted. People came over who hadn't seen Bren in a little while and they were amazed at his hair. It's getting really long and it's still pretty curly. It's so soft that everyone rubs his head. He can't get away from it. Before it was because he was bald and now it's because of his hair. He loves it though. It used to bother him, but now he's ok with it. Here are some pictures from Monday.

Brendon had his chemo on 4/23 and all went well. His white blood count and platelets were low, but they were not too concerned about it. They thought that maybe he was fighting something. He hasn't had any fevers, so I guess he's doing ok. He is scheduled for a PET scan and a CT scan on 5/28. We are hoping for no new masses or any regrowth! He hasn't had any scans for a while so it will be nice to know.

Brendon had a palatal expander put in on Thursday. He's still getting used to it so he's a little uncomfortable. He talks with a lisp and he keeps getting food stuck under it. Other than that he's doing well with it. It needs to be expanded 2 times a day for the next 7 days, then we go back to the orthodontist. The assistant at the orthodontist was telling Brendon what an easy patient he was (He never complains about pain and he follows direction easily) and I told her that compared to all of the other things he's been through, this is a cake walk. Brendon said that was true and then they proceeded to talk about cake walks and what kind of cake they both like. They are so great with him! They always make sure that they make him feel comfortable and they don't single him out as a child with cancer.

Yesterday was the first day of turkey hunting for Brendon. Andy and Bren were so excited! I think Andy might have been a little bit more excited to teach Brendon about hunting, but it's pretty close. They got up really early in the hopes that Bren would get his first bird. I knew this day was coming, but it seems like it snuck up on me. Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday he was starting potty training and now he's old enough to carry a gun. Yikes! Brendon did get his bird. He called me around 7:30 to tell me all about it. He was so excited! He had his dad, his Grandfather and Frank with him. Here are a few pictures of the boys with the bird. It was a jake and it weighed about 16 pounds.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Walk-for-Wishes. We've raised around $1,300 so far! That's a pretty cool thing. It's not to late to contribute if you would like. You can donate online or mail a check to Make-A-Wish. Please go to http://www.mainewish.org/ and select Walk for Wishes. Once there you can select Brendon's Troops from the teams list. Thanks for all of the support! You can also join the team if you'd like to walk with us. Please contact us with any questions.

That's it for this update. Thank you all again for the continued thoughts and prayers. We often run into people who tell us they check this site all the time. We appreciate it! Take care.

Guitar Hero, Relay for Life, Walk for Wishes and updates...

Well, here it is... an update! There are so many things to talk about!

Brendon continues to do well. He is just getting over the flu that has been going around, but other than that he's been doing great! He has discovered Guitar Hero. He played it for the first time at the clinic last month (they have new flat screen tvs and XBox 360's in all of the rooms now.. very cool!!) and he's been hooked. He has a knack for it. It's pretty funny to watch him play it. He told me not to post this video on the webpage, but I had to. It's too funny not to!!

And here's a picture of Danny and Bren playing it at the house. Danny is playing with the guitar behind his back. Very official!!

We have been keeping busy with school, work, going to various doctors, dentist and orthodontist appointments and all of the other normal day to day activities. Yes, it's true.. Bren is getting braces. We had started the process before his diagnosis, but it was put on hold until his immune system was better. He is in a good place now. He is getting the separators, expander and brackets on his front 6 teeth next month. He had to have 2 baby teeth removed last week. That went very well. No issues at all, very quick and painless. Thank goodness for Novocaine!

Easter was nice. We all went to Belfast Saturday night and spent the night at a friend's condo. It was good to be away for the night. My brother Tommy met us there Sunday and we had an Easter egg hunt for Bren and went out to dinner. It was relaxing. This is Bren standing on a hill in Belfast looking tough on Easter!

And here is Bren and his Uncle Tommy. So handsome!

Brendon had his chemo today and it went well. He was given the framed pictures that were displayed at the Children's Museum of Andy and of Bren. They are beautiful! He is so proud of them. He couldn't wait to show the family.

We were asked to speak at a meeting at Central Maine Medical Center tonight for teachers regarding children with cancer and how it is for them to adjust to being back in school. It was a great experience for Brendon and I (Andy had to work). Brendon was a little nervous to talk in front of everyone, but he did great. I did most of the talking (imagine that, huh??), but he answered the questions and was so cute. We spoke about how we found out about Bren's cancer and how it was for him when he went back to school. It was nice to be able to talk about our experience and hopefully help teachers understand the child's point of view. Everyone was so nice and we both left feeling great. Brendon kept talking about how nice everyone was and how much fun he had. I think he might have a career in public speaking ahead of him :) Thanks to Cindy at MCCP for thinking of us and inviting us. You know we love you!!

We all are participating in a Relay For Life event on June 20th in Farmingdale (close to Augusta) with people from my work. I'm still working on the details for this event, but I'll let everyone know when a page is set up for us. I've heard that this is an amazing event and we are pretty excited about it.

And finally, Brendon, Andy and I are organizing a team for the Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes in May. The walk is May 29th at 6pm. We are trying to raise $6,000. Seems like a lot, huh? Well that is approximately how much it takes to grant one wish. Brendon really wants to raise enough money to help another child have his/her wish granted. He is pumped for this walk! We are asking for donations. Anyone who knows us knows that we are not the fundraiser type. I am not a big fan of asking people for money. However, this is for a cause that is very near and dear to our hearts. We can not say enough good things about Make-a-Wish. Our trip was so much fun and such a welcome break from the stress of chemotherapy and life with cancer! If anyone is interested in donating, please follow this link for more information.

http://mainewish.kintera.org/maywalk/brendonstroops

If you would rather not donate online, you can mail a check made out to "Make-A-Wish" to us at:

The Dunn Family

408 Pleasant Street

Lewiston, ME 04240

Please forward this to as many people as you feel you can. We would appreciate it so much! I know that things are tight for a lot of people right now, but even a donation of $1 would help.

That's pretty much it for tonight. I'm sure there is a lot that I left out, but it's getting late and I'm pretty tired. I will try to update more often, but please know that no news is usually good news! Brendon will be going for some scans next month just to make sure everything is still good. Next month will be the one year mark! Halfway there!!

Take care! *Amber*

Finally... an update....

Things are going well. Life is still pretty busy, but we welcome it! That means that Brendon is well enough to keep busy. Here are a few updates since the last post...

We've been trying to get out and enjoy the LARGE amounts of snow that we have received as much as we can. Bren and I have had 7 or 8 snow days this year! Today was another one. Bren has been doing great at ice skating, although the snow has stopped us from hitting the ponds as much as we'd like. This year we are planning to go skiing/snowboarding at Lost Valley and Shawnee Peak for the first time as a family. It should be a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of our outdoor adventures (including some from Bren snowblowing the driveway today).

Brendon had his monthly chemotherapy session in Scarborough on January 30th and found out that he will not be able to play football this year. He was pretty upset, but he's trying to think of another sport that he'd like to get involved with. The chemo went well. He had the normal body aches that accompany the vincristine the week after, but it was mild. He will be having a PET scan and an X-ray in March/April just to check things out. We talked about how we would know if Brendon relapsed, besides the pain that he had before. I asked if they would know by his blood, and found out that it would not show in his blood. His doctor said that he's doing very well and that she thinks his chance for relapse is small. She also said that Lymphoma doesn't sneak up on you. Once it's there, it's there. Bren went to see a neurologist yesterday because he has been having severe migraines that Oxycodone doesn't help. He had 2 or 3 last month. They usually hit him at night time and they are so bad that he usually feels like he's going to vomit. His doctor referred him to neurology to see if they could offer him some alternative medicine to help him out. The appointment went well and he was confident that Brendon does not have any neurological issues (which is a huge relief!). Brendon is just one of the many people who suffer from migraines. He gave us some medicine to try when he gets one. Thank goodness it's not another pill that he has to take daily.

Brendon has also discovered his love for babies. A friend of ours had a baby about a month ago and Brendon is just fascinated with him. He was nervous to hold him for the first time, but after that he was hooked. He loves holding him! Here are some cute pictures of Brendon and Zander. Brendon has all of his hair back. He looks great! His hair is a light to medium blonde now and it's a lot softer. He actually has a little bit of a wave to it. Not much, but just a little. Before chemo his hair was stuck straight to his head and was light brown without an ounce of wave. I actually had to trim his hair in the back the other day because he was growing a rat tail. He kept saying how strange it was to be getting a trim. It's been about 6 months since his hair has been long enough to trim. It's still pretty short right now, but he's growing it out to see what it will look like. He also has long, thick eyelashes! He lost those because of the chemo, but they are back and better than ever. I am so jealous of his lashes. They are beautiful!
And finally, Brendon made the honor roll for this quarter! We are so proud of him!! He made the Behavior Honor Roll, Effort Honor Roll and the all A's & B's Honor Roll. This is the first time he's made all A's & B's this year. He has worked so hard to stay on track and his school has been so great with helping him not fall behind. He is such a smart kid and it's great to see him so proud of his accomplishments. His attendance has also gone up drastically. He was in school almost every day this quarter.

That's pretty much it for updates. We are doing the day to day thing and trying to stay warm and dry! This winter has been pretty rough! I don't remember getting this much snow in the winter... I'll leave you with another slide show of some random pictures.



Take care! ~Amber

It's been a while..

It's been a long time since any updates. All is well, we've just been really busy. I am going to school and working now so I don't have as much time as I used to.. Thanks for all of your patience with the lack of updates.

I'll start with our Christmas celebrations. As you all know we were not here for Christmas so we celebrated later. We had a family gathering with one side of the family on 12/30. It was really nice. We showed the pictures from the trip, ate lots of food and just visited with the family. Brendon got some pretty neat gifts. We still have to have Christmas with the other side of the family, but we all have been so busy.. Here are a few pics from our Christmas celebrations.

There was a great article about Brendon in our local newspaper on 12/30/07. It was really great to read what he said. He's so strong! He inspires us daily. He seems to be growing up so fast. I don't know where the time went.. The article said he was a third grader, but he's in fourth grade. He was quick to point that out. :)
We've been ice skating since the last post. Last year was the first year that Brendon really started ice skating. He loves it! He was a little nervous to be out on the ice for the first time this year, but he did great. He was playing hockey with the big guys (my cousin and his friends) and doing very well. He had to get some new skates because last year's were too small for him.. He is a size 8 in men's! Crazy, huh? And he's still growing....

Bren has been playing outside in all of the snow. It's getting pretty cold, so we have really been missing California. Brendon keeps asking if we could move there. Days when it's 9 degrees outside make us think it's a great idea! :)

Friday night Brendon had the opportunity to drop the first puck at the Lewiston Mainiacs game. It was so cool! Androscoggin Bank was sponsoring a Make-A-Wish night at the game and they were looking for a local wish family to be their guest. We received the call last week and thought it would be fun. Brendon was pretty nervous, but he did great. He went out on the ice all by himself. I didn't get any pictures of him head on because I was behind him, but I think they will send me the professional pictures they had taken. I'll post them if I get them. It was a great experience.

Brendon is still only receiving chemotherapy once a month in Scarborough. He takes pills at home, but it is very small compared to what he used to take. He has been feeling great and hasn't missed any school (except for the snow days..). He loves life and is starting to talk about what he wants to do when he grows up. This week he wants to be a scientist. We tell him he can be ANYTHING he wants to be. Whenever he starts to think he can't do things we remind him of all that he has been through.

Thank you all for everything. I know we say that a lot, but we truly mean it. We pray for special blessings for each and every one of you!

Have a great day, and GO PATRIOTS!!!!


Much love,
Andy, Amber & Brendon

Update on our trip

Sorry for the lack of information on the last post. We were trying to get all the pictures online and we've been pretty tired.

Instead of making all kinds of slide shows I decided to post the pictures on the website Shutterfly. The link to view all of the pictures is: www.brendonadunn.shutterfly.com
Once there you can click on the different albums to check out the pictures. There are a LOT of pictures and I'm still adding and updating so it will probably change frequently. We took a total of about 800 pictures while we were there so it's taking a little while to get them all up.. Thanks for your patience.

The first night there we were starving by the time we checked into the hotel. We drove around trying to find something to eat. San Diego does not have a lot of fast food places like Maine does. We ended up finding a pizza place and ordered a large pizza. We were so tired that we didn't really think about how large a 28 inch pizza would be. The box was so big that it had to be folded on the sides to fit in the back of the impala that we were driving.. Andy felt really goofy carrying that huge box into the hotel. Needless to say, that pizza was breakfast and dinner for a couple of nights. Here is a picture of the box next to a newspaper to give you an idea of how huge this thing was.
The next day (Sunday) was Legoland. We were all very excited to finally check it out! There were a lot of people, but it wasn't as crowded as we thought it would be. We were amazed at all of the things that they made. You'll have to check out the pictures to see how cool everything is. They had a full size Volvo SUV made from legos. It looked so real! The rides were not what we thought they would be, but they were still cool. They were a little kiddie. The ride part reminded me of StoryLand in New Hampshire. Brendon's favorite ride was either the Bionicle coaster or the firetruck ride. The Firetruck ride was like an old fashioned rail car where you had to pump the lever up and down on both sides to get it going down the track. Once you reached the end you had to put the "fire" out using a pump water gun. Once the fire was out you had to pump the truck back to the starting line. Andy and Brendon had so much fun with it! They had fireworks that night, but we didn't stay because we wanted to make sure we made it back to the hotel in daylight. We also wanted to make sure we had time to get some food and all that good stuff. We stopped for dinner on the way home and then spent the rest of the night relaxing at the hotel.

Monday was a free day. We decided to drive around and check out the sites of San Diego. We ended up at Silver Strand beach. It was beautiful! We walked on the sand and we found 5 sand dollars and some pretty funky shells. We also went to another beach on Coronado island called Imperial Beach. We walked on the pier and then got some lunch. After that we headed to a place called Balboa Park. They have playgrounds and all kinds of museums to check out. We ended up going to a Science Museum and saw a movie about monsters of the sea on the astrodome. Bren had never been to one so he thought it was pretty cool. We headed back to the hotel after the museum. Behind the hotel was a place called Seaport Village. It has all kinds of cool shops and restaurants. We got some dinner and walked around by the water for a little while. Then we decided to check out the pool to see if it was heated (it was an outdoor pool). It was! They also had 3 fire pits set up outside that they lit each night and a hot tub. Very nice!
Tuesday was Christmas Day and we were headed back to LegoLand. It was Brendon's 10th birthday. The place was so BUSY! We did not think it would be so busy on Christmas, but it was. We decided to check out the shows that they had and try to see as much as we could since it was our last day. We saw a 4d movie, built a robot, watched a play and checked out all the shops. We didn't hit too many rides, but we went on all the ones Bren wanted to. Halfway through the day my flip flop broke. Not broke like it was still wearable, but completely trashed. Andy tried to get me another pair but they did not have any in my size, nor did they have any other shoes (just slippers). What to do?? Andy taped my shoe for me. The rest of the day was spent walking around in a pair of shoes that felt like they had a huge wad of gum on the bottom. It was pretty funny!Wednesday was another free day. We went to check out the USS Midway (Naval aircraft carrier) which was in the harbor next to our hotel. We were able to go on it and check everything out. It was pretty neat to see how things are done on the Navy carriers. Brendon thought the planes were cool.. Then we drove to La Jolla to check out a place where sea lions and seals relax on the beach. It was so cool! They looked like giant rocks that moved. Very cute. Brendon really wanted to go swimming so when we got back from driving around La Jolla we went back to the hotel so Brendon and Andy could swim.. The water was warm, but the air was cool. I was cold so I didn't go swimming. They only stayed in for a little while. Here are some pictures of them swimming..

After swimming we went back to our room, showered and went to walk around behind our hotel to find some dinner. It was a little chilly, so we brought the food back to our room to eat.

Thursday was the San Diego Zoo. It was amazing! So many cool animals. We were there all day and still didn't see everything there was to see. We saw all of the animals we wanted to see so we were happy. Pandas, Tigers, Monkeys, Hippos and all kinds of other creatures. We went on the "skyfari" which is like a ski lift, only it takes you all over the park. It was cool. They also had a double-decker bus that took us all around the park. We took lots of pictures, which are almost all on Shutterfly.

Friday we had to be out of the hotel by noon so we packed up and checked out around 10am. We picked up some final souvenirs behind the hotel and thought about what we wanted to do for the day. We had to be at the airport by 7pm. We decided to drive to the Cabrillo Monument. It is a state park that has an old lighthouse on it. We checked out the sights and then went to get lunch. We went to Dave & Busters (kind of like Chuckie Cheese, only bigger and geared more towards older people) to meet a friend and her daughters. It was so much fun. Brendon played the games until it was time to head out. We had to fill the rental car up, get some dinner, return the car and get checked into the airport. Everything went smoothly and we arrived at the airport by 6:30. We went through security and then found our gate. We had plenty of time to kill so we got some dinner at the airport. Our flight left at 9pm, right on time. As we were leaving it started to rain. It didn't rain at all the entire time we were in San Diego, until we left. The flight was a little bumpy, but not too bad. Bren stayed awake until around 1am, then he fell asleep. He did so well! He was exhausted when we arrived in New York, but he's such a trooper. He was cracking jokes and being Bren. Our flight from NY was on time and we landed in Maine around 10:15am.. It was a long night, but we were so excited to be home! We were met at the airport by another Make-A-Wish Representative, Linda, and a couple of family members (My mom and her boyfriend). A limo was at the airport to take us home. Again, we were so tired that we slept in the limo. It was still cool to go home in a limo! Very nice. We opened a few presents when we got home, then we all took a nap. We were only going to sleep for a couple of hours, but we ended up sleeping for 4 hours. The rest of the night was spent enjoying being home.

The weekend was busy, but fun. We met up with family members to celebrate Christmas and unpacked and tried to adjust to the time change. Our trip was the trip of a lifetime and we are so grateful that we were given the opportunity.. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible!!

Back to normal life, Brendon went to the clinic Wednesday for his chemo and checkup. He's taller and thinner than he was a month ago.. He looks and feels great so he got another clean bill of health from his doctor. His chemo was quick and he won't have another iv until the 30th. He's been fighting a cold since we returned and yesterday his body was achy (side effect of the chemo). He didn't let it stop him from doing his normal activities. He went to bed early last night because he was so sleepy. His counts are good and he's doing good. He handled the trip very well. We had a hard time keeping up with him.. He had tons of energy. We are so thankful that he's returning to himself.

That's it for tonight. Thank you for reading this novel that was written.. :) We also want to thank you all again for everything that has been done for us. We are so blessed.

We'll update again soon and talk about the Christmas parties we had. Happy New Year!! ~Amber and Andy