Welcome to Bryce's Web Page

Timothy Wayne Breuer
August 10, 1970 - July 19, 2008

The BEST of the BEST...

The BEST Husband, Dad, Son, Friend, Everything...

You are the Love of My Life, Tim.

You are the #1 Dad to your boys.
We love and miss you so very much...

Bryce Andrew Breuer

May 18, 1998 - February 22, 2007

"Compassionate"
But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Ecclesiastes 9:1


"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." Mark 10:14-16

We are so proud of you, Bryce Andrew Breuer!!!

Your legacy of faith, hope, compassion, incredible love, and trust in God will live on forever in many, many hearts!!! See ya soon, Bryce.


SAFELY HOME

I am home in Heaven, dear ones;
Oh, so happy and so bright!
There is perfect joy and beauty
in this everlasting life.

All the pain and grief is over;
Every restless tossing passed;
I am now at peace forever,
Safely home in Heaven at last.

Did you wonder I so calmly
Trod the valley of the shade?
Oh! but Jesus' love illumined
Every dark and fearful glade.

And He came Himself to meet me
In that way so hard to tread;
And with Jesus' arm to lean on,
Could I have one doubt or dread?

Then you must not grieve so sorely,
For I love you dearly still:
Try to look beyond earth's shadows
Pray to trust our Father's Will.

There is work still waiting for you,
So you must not idly stand;
Do it now, while life remaineth-
You shall rest in Jesus' land.

When that work is all completed,
He will gently call you Home;
Oh, the rapture of that meeting,
Oh, the joy to see you come!



Thanks for stopping by and thinking of us!

February 22, 2007: Bryce has become one of God's special Angels in Heaven. We rejoice in his complete and perfect healing in Heaven. We live each day with the strength from Bryce and God alone. We miss Bryce terribly. He taught us to live life to the fullest, be brave and courageous, be compassionate toward others, and lean on the Lord. We are truly blessed by Bryce's presence in our lives! Our huge faith will carry us into tomorrow, and as always, God gets all the glory...


December 2006: It has almost been 1 year since Bryce's bone marrow transplant (Dec. 27th) and we feel like we are right back to square one... Bryce has once again relapsed in his bone marrow. He also has a mass near his L2 vertebrae. We need to call out to our Awesome God more than ever to give us one more final MIRACLE for Bryce!! Please don't let up on the prayers. I know God is listening. Please pray for Bryce's strength and healing. He is such an incredible little boy. He's such an inspiration to us. And, he is our HERO...Please keep praying for his MIRACLE!!!


September 2006: Praise God for his incredible healing powers!!! Bryce is in REMISSION, AND his blood has 100 percent donor cells!! His chromosome analysis came back with incredible results!...No leukemia chromosomes noted!! This is the MIRACLE that we have been praying for for almost one year!! God is so good. Life is so good. Where would we be without our Lord and Savior? Thank you God, for all of the blessings in our lives!!


June 2006: On May 15th, we received news that Bryce has once again relapsed in his bone marrow. His leukemia cells are now at 25% in his bone marrow. We are praying for MIRACLES FOR BRYCE, peace and healing. We are now trying to give him healing with natural supplements and oils, along with a small amount of chemo and steroids to keep the leukemia at bay. We have opted out of hard chemo at this point. We feel very strongly that he has already had enough toxins put into his little body, he doesn't need anymore. He is a fighter and our HERO!!! With God at our side, who dare be against us?! PLEASE Keep the HUGE FAITH!!!


May 2006: We have received Bryce's chimerism results from Mayo which are showing 100 percent donor cells!! The chimerism is the breakdown between donor and recipient cells in the peripheral blood. Bryce will have a bone marrow biopsy the 2nd week of May to find out the true results since the blood is produced in the bone marrow. We will receive these results in the 3rd week of May. We give God ALL THE GLORY for once again giving us positive news!!! Please continue to pray for Bryce's healing and response to Mitchell's cells. God is answering our prayers!!!


April 2006: We have just received results that Bryce has relapsed, again. Please send out your POWERFUL PRAYERS that God will once again heal Bryce this time by a Donor Lymphocyte Infusion from his brother, Mitchell. We have seen God work His miraculous powers in so many ways! By God's grace, Bryce will be healed FOREVER!!!! ...With God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26.


February 2006: We received the MIRACULOUS NEWS that Bryce's bone marrow is 100 percent donor (Mitchell's) cells on January 31st, 2006!!! PRAISE GOD AND HIS MIRACULOUS POWERS! We give God ALL OF THE GLORY for Bryce's healing and recovery!!! Bryce is one of God's many miracles, and we are so grateful for that! Our next milestone is Day 100, April 6th, when Bryce will have another bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap to recheck everything and make sure he is still 100 percent donor cells. He will then have his Hickman catheter (Central Line) taken out of his chest. He will be going back to school then and celebrating a NEW LIFE!!!


Bryce had a bone marrow transplant on December 27th, 2005! His oldest brother, Mitchell, was his donor. We are currently at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN in the Transplant Unit on 3 Mary Brigh. We are at the point of waiting for the new cells to engraft. Our faith is HUGE in our God who has got us this far and will carry Bryce through a long and healthy life!!! Here is the rest of Bryce's story...


Bryce relapsed in his spinal fluid and bone marrow with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on September 19th, 2005. After four attempts with chemo medications to get him into remission, we have had success!!! OUR BRYCER IS IN REMISSION!!!!!!! Because he has relapsed, his body has built a resistence to many of his chemo medications, this is why we have had to make so many attempts. We received news on December 8th that his bone marrow is clear. There are NO Leukemia cells!!!! His chromosome analysis from December 7th showed that NONE of the cells collected had the chromosome abnormality for Leukemia! Wahoo!

We ask you to please keep him in your prayers, everyday. This is a very scary, faith-filled, emotional time for all us. Now that we have him back into remission, he will be receiving cranial radiation, total body radiation, and high doses of chemo. They will not be giving him another round of hard chemo to deplete his bone marrow any more than this because it has taken so long to get him into remission. We already know that we have an exact bone marrow match with Bryce. His bone marrow donor will be his oldest brother, Mitchell who is 11 years old. He will need to be completely infection-free before transplant. When the transplant occurs and his body accepts the donor marrow, the first year after transplant will be the most difficult with infection and possible relapse. Leukemia is a bugger. The Leukemic cell does not have a stop-mechanism like our other cells. Once one is produced, it keeps reproducing. If he does not relapse in the first year, that will be the best. They will not officially call him "cured" until 5 years after transplant. The farther out he gets from transplant, the better the news. This is why we need your continuous prayers!!!

Bryce was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on May 19th, 2003,...the day after his 5th birthday. What were some of his signs and symptoms? Bryce was 1)getting multiple bruises(almost overnight!) on his body, especially his arms and legs for the past week and a half; 2)having swollen lymph nodes on his neck and in his armpits for the past 3 weeks; 3)having "tummy-aches" everyday for the past 3 weeks. I took him in for his 5-year well-child check on the 19th and brought these concerns to the attention of our Doctor. Tim & I knew something wasn't right but we didn't expect leukemia. After the results of the chest x-ray, blood work, and physical exam our Doctor told us he had all the signs and symptoms of leukemia. Bryce's white blood cell count was at 38,000; platelets were at 11,000; hemoglobin was at 9; and blast (cancer) cells were noted. Bryce's liver and spleen were enlarged, this would explain the tummy aches. He called Mayo and we went to Rochester that afternoon.

For children, ALL has a 85% cure rate which is a really good thing! He has excellent Doctors' from Peds Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. They are using the same protocol treatment plan that is used across the U.S. for other patients with his diagnosis.

On May 21st, he went to surgery where the Doctors' performed a spinal tap/lumbar puncture, a bone marrow biopsy, and placed a Port-A-Cath under his skin.

During the LP, they retrieved spinal fluid to check for cancer cells, there were no cancer cells found in his spinal fluid which means no radiation! They also gave him his first chemo treatment into the spinal fluid (central nervous system).

They performed a bilateral (both hips) bone marrow biopsy to discover the exact type of ALL he has which is B-Cell, CCG 1991. They sent some bone marrow for research (we agreed to place him in the research study) and more to genetics for more specific testing.

They placed a Port-A-Cath (Port) just under his skin by his lower right rib cage. The port is a round piece of medal with a gel pad in the center where a needle can be inserted. It has a small catheter tubing connected to it that also lays under the skin following up to the jugular vein and leads into the right atrium of his heart. This port will hopefully stay in place for 3 years and 2 months as this will be the length of his treatment plan. If he has a growth spurt, he could "outgrow" it and it would come out of his heart, then they would have to replace it.

Bryce has been in REMISSION since June 5th, 2003, Day 14 of the Induction (first) Phase!!! Yeah!! The treatment plan doesn't change, he just continues with his chemo treatments. He will have many of his chemo treatments, and blood draws, from his port. These port treatments are the IV chemo treatments. Other chemo treatments will be orally (by mouth), intrathecally (spinal tap/lumbar puncture), and intramuscular (injection into the thigh). He is on medications for the many side-effects of the chemo medications. The chemotherapy kills off the cancer cells but also the healthy cells. The leukemia and the chemotherapy treatments lower the platelet count and hemoglobin.

Bryce has had many platelet and packed red cell (for hemoglogin) transfusions. They always "perk" him up a bit. His blood counts are checked once a month, now unless they are low, then they are checked more often. The doctors want his platelet count above 20,000 (normal is 150,000-450,000); his hemoglobin above 8(normal is 12.5-15), and if his white blood cell count is too low (normal is 5,000-10,000) and he gets a fever, we will need to bring him in to the E.R. so they can hang IV antibiotics. If his counts are low, he will most likely have a hospital stay. The Doctors' informed us, from the beginning, on how important it is not to pass germs on to Bryce with his white count so low because of the chemo. We are all trying to use good hand washing techniques! Somedays that is not as easy as it sounds with 5 BOYS!!!

Bryce has gained so much medical knowledge since he was diagnosed that he could probably teach a class called Children With Leukemia and give tours of the Mayo Medical Center! He still asks questions and reminds his parent's and brothers' of certain details of the ongoing treatments. He loves all of his brothers' so much and truly enjoys the time together that they help him pass during his treatments. His brothers (Mitchell 12, Logan 10, Joel 7, and Ethan 3) have also learned so much in the past two+ years! It has been quite the "rollercoaster ride" for all of us but it is ALL GOOD! He is with us and we thank God everyday!!! We tend to get a bit nervous at times so we make sure to talk about those feelings and help each other through those feelings. We feel very fortunate that Bryce has only hit a few bumps in the road. There are many other cancer kids' who have had more of a struggle, so we consider him/us to be lucky!

We are all still so amazed and grateful for all of the people who are praying for Bryce and his family,...from close friends and family to people in other churches and families that we don't even know! We truly appreciate all of the prayers, support, food, visits, and offers that we have still receive!! Even after two+ years, we can still FEEL the ENERGY of PRAYER in our hearts. It is INTENSE and AMAZING! God is watching over us and our little Brycer is in His healing hands.

Please check back for additional updates. God Bless ALL of YOU!!!
Tim & Susie
Mitchell, Logan, Bryce, Joel, & Ethan


"Average" chemo patient blood levels: Hemoglobin: 12.5; white blood cell count: 2,500; ANC (healthy cells) at least 1,000; platelets: 150,000-450,000. I thought you might like this as a reference.





BRYCE is our HERO!

E-mail Author: susie.breuer@hotmail.com

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