The Story of Us: two years down the track!

It’s two years since we were first told that Brendan has an undifferentiated pleomorthic sarcoma: setting us on a path of discovery, heartache, hope, recovery, recurrence, disappointment, elation, exhaustion, confusion, anger, frustration, learning, teaching, acceptance, joy and love – to name just a few. A rollercoaster of emotions, thoughts and feelings that to this day are continuous and ever changing.

It’s an aggressive and rare cancer this one; we know that because it took less than a month to rob Brendan of his right leg, when it recurred after initial treatment. It’s unpredictable and keeps us on our toes.  We know it is persistent, as it has withstood two years of intensive chemotherapy treatments in both day therapy and hospital in-stays, and has managed to progress some in that time. We also know it can be managed, because there is a chemotherapy tablet now managing it at home.

We are currently waiting on results from the precautionary MRI; that we made a 12 hour round trip to the city for on Monday. At this point we are not concerned; but are grateful for the opportunity – through the great care Brendan receives, to follow up on the slightest thing that may show up as a red flag – at regular reviews with the team

To answer the ‘why do you have to travel so far for tests and treatment’ question – is simple, we trust Brendan’s medical team with his life. As mentioned above, what he has is rare – in the city he has an entire team of medical professionals at his disposal that have the experience necessary to meet his needs. In our experience, the fact that they are all in one area, makes his treatment far more efficient – and when time is of the essence, that’s incredibly important.

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This June we are celebrating Brendan living with cancer;

two years down the track.

He is a survivor and we look forward to celebrating many more milestones to come in the future.

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Our thanks go out to the large multidisciplinary team that work tirelessly to keep Brendan well; with special thanks to Dr V & Dr P for guiding their team and us through a massive two years.

And of course we want to send out a huge thank you to an even larger team – #teambrendanm: our family, friends and community; beside us every step of the way… it’s awesome just knowing you’re there.

Above all else; my thanks go out to my husband, my go to guy, for hanging in there and having the strength and courage to stand up and fight this stupid, shit disease with all you’ve got.

You prove without a shadow of doubt that Life is good and hope is limitless.