~BRANDON'S STORY~

BRANDON ELAM
March 18, 1991 ~ October 2, 2007
Always Remembered...Never Forgotten

Brandon was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in Aug 2004. After many trips to the hospital and doctor's Brandon was not getting better. On Oct. 22, 2004 Brandon was diagnosed also with Medulloblastoma(brain tumor), that metastasized to his spine. 10-25-04 he had surgery to remove the brain tumor. 11-10-04 he had a shunt placed in his head to relieve the pressure. 11-22-04 we started 30 radiation treatment's with a weekly dose of Vincristine (chemo). From 2-05 to 7-05 Brandon had 6 rounds of heavy chemo in the hospital. He has had clean scans until 9-22-06, when we found out he relapsed. He has Medullablastoma in his bone marrow. This is very rare. He is having 10 radiation treatments on his hip and he is taking an oral form of chemo (VP-16) at home. If the chemo works he will have a stem cell transplant from his own blood. After 1 round of the oral chemo scans showed more tumors. We are now doing IV chemo (Carboplatin & Etoposide-VP-16) in the hospital. We found out in 6-07 after 6rds of treatment that this was not working anymore and his cancer is spreading. We are now going to try a five day chemo treatment (Temozomide and Irinitecan) We will start this as inpatient and if Brandon does well we can do it in Dr. McMahon's office. It is with much sadness that after two rds of this treatment. We had an MRI and PET Scan done that showed us that the cancer has continued to spread throughout Brandon's body. As of 8-27-07 we have all decided that we have run out of option's and we are not going to have anymore treatments. We do not know how much time Brandon has left, but we are going to live everyday like it is his last and make a lot of happy memories. Please keep praying for Brandon and our family to make it thru this. Thanks for all the love and support.
PLEASE LEAVE BRANDON A MESSAGE UNDER GUESTBOOK.








Brandon's Make-a-Wish trip to Atlantis (Bahamas) 7-06

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Journal

Sunday,May 31, 2009 10:43 PM

Our church Mill Grove United Methodist is having a 3K & 5K Walk & Run in Memory of Brandon Elam and Sam Keziah to raise money for CureSearch (cancer research for children). 1/2 of the money raised will go to CureSearch and the other 1/2 will go for Breast Cancer research. We would love for you to come out in memory of Brandon and help us keep the promise we made to raise money for a cure to childhood cancer. This is going to be held in our neighborhood Shannamara on June 27,2009. For more info and registration go to www.Charlotterunning.com


Wednesday,March 18,2009 9:53 AM CDT
Brandon,

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY!!!

It is so hard to believe you are celebrating your 2nd birthday in heaven. We miss you so much and on days like this it is so much harder to deal with. We know you are in a better place, but it does not take away our pain of missing you and the things we should be doing for you and with you everyday.
When you were born it was one of the happiest days of our lives. I would have never dreamed it would turn out the way it did. I still have a very hard time with that. I don't think I will ever get over it until we are together again in heaven. As a parent you have so many dreams for your child and all of those dreams were taken away from us.The things you can't wait for your child to do will never be for us. We just wonder what your life would of been, what would you look like, what would you be doing as a senior in high school, your prom, what sports you would be playing, who would your friends be, would you have a girlfriend, would you have a job and if so where, where would you be planning on going to college and for what, your graduation day. The list can go on and on. As your mom this is what goes thru my head all the time and what hurts so much. Not being able to talk to you. Not being able to give you a hug and kiss, which I know you would hate. I miss all of this so much and people always say it does not matter to you because your in a better place, but I still feel we all have been robbed of your future. As a mom I feel I did not get to finish my job to make sure you got to do everything you wanted to do and push you to do things I wanted you to do. I feel you and your sister both missed out on everything a brother and sister do for each other. The good and the bad. That is just the way it is with a brother and sister. I know she misses you very much and has a hard time being and only child now. I'm gonna stop now because I could go on and on. I just want you to have a great birthday and know we are here celebrating with you. Look for your 18 balloons that we will be sending you later today.

We love and miss you very much!!
Love,
Mom, Dad, and Brooke
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

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~HEAVEN~

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E-mail Author: selam46@carolina.rr.com

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