Joshua Steven Brestel

Jess, Tyler and Josh Christmas 2003.



JOSHUA STEVEN BRESTEL

December 13, 1999 - December 1, 2004


Welcome!
This page has been provided to keep everyone up-to-date on Josh. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 favorable Wilm's Tumor on September 7, 2003. He started chemotherapy on September 12. On January 5, Josh had surgery to remove the left side of his kidney and the tumor. He was born with a horseshoe kidney (fused at the bottom forming one kidney). He had 6 treatments of radiation. Josh relapsed on March 12, 2004. He had surgery again on March 23. On April 6, before he started radiation, more cancer was found. He was immediately admitted and started on chemo. He had three in stay rounds of chemo. On May 18 scans were done. They were clear. He then had stem cell harvest and 13 rounds of radiation. On August 23, before he was able to start chemo again, more cancer was found in the abdomen. He started a new chemo drug in hopes of shrinking the tumors small enough for sugery. On November 23, after trying three different chemo drugs, we were told Josh's cancer was terminal. On December 1, 2004, he earned his angel wings.





While We Are Apart I Will Hold You In My Heart
and Never Let You Go

Distance may separate us,
But my heart will never let you go,
For I carry a part of you
With me always
It keeps me going through the day
It brings a smile to my face
And tears to my eyes
It is a part of my dreams
That I live for and cherish
That part is my wish, my only one,
To see you again soon
I know that wish will someday come true,
But for now I will hold in my heart
The memory of you
And never let you go

Author Unknown

Josh's Birthday Party Toy Drive

Milestones Childhood Cancer Walk

Journal

Thursday, January 31, 2008 1:34 PM CST

Monday, February 4

Our hearts are breaking for the Livers family. Their sweet liitle girl Sadie passed away last night. She has been fighting relapse Wilm's. Please stop by her site (www.caringbridge.org/visit/sadieliver)and show your support.

Diane




Hello Everyone,

It’s Dad’s turn to update. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Ours was the usual bittersweet. We love spending time with our families but there is always that empty spot at the table, during the gift exchange, etc.

It is an exciting time for our CureSearch team. On the 14-16, I traveled out to Washington D.C. to the annual CureSearch team leader's meeting. For those who don’t know, Diane and I are CureSearch team leaders for Nebraska. Every January, I go out for instruction and to meet with the members of congress to advocate for children with cancer. We do this because the children can’t do it for themselves. This year’s meeting was very productive for Nebraska. After three years of sharing our cancer story and much begging, Senator Ben Nelson has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act. This is a bill CureSearch is working to get through congress. He also agreed to help CureSearch with appropriation requests. We now have both senators (Hagel & Nelson) and 2 representatives (Terry & Fortenberry) signed on as co-sponsors. We need help in the third district to get Adrian Smith to sign on. It would be fantastic to have our whole contingent as co-sponsors. It is always great to go to D.C. and see old friends and meet new ones with so much in common. We all want to reach the day when every child will be guaranteed a cure.

Jess has started the second semester of her freshman year. She has stared playing club volleyball. They have their second tournament this Sunday right during the super bowl. She loves it and we have a great time with all the families. They will be playing in a tournament in Denver the first weekend in March. She is really looking forward to it. This spring she will either do soccer or track at school. She is having a hard time deciding. She likes them both.

Diane and Jess delivered some more toys to St. Elizabeth’s here in Lincoln and we all delivered more gift cards to Children’s. Overall we delivered just over $1200 in gift cards and a van and a half of toys. We have actually heard from a few people who received gifts while in the hospital. It is great to hear the personal stories on how these gifts help other children. Thank you so much to everyone who donates and helps with the toy drive.

In the coming months, Diane and I will start training with Mourning Hope. Mourning Hope is the grief group we all attend. We will train to be facilitators and help lead classes in the future. Mourning Hope has really become a huge part of our lives. I have given several talks at different businesses around Lincoln for Mourning Hope and United Way. We still attend a couple nights a month.

Our next big project is the upcoming Milestones Walk held in Omaha. The walk this year is June 7 from 8-10 a.m. Last year the walk raised over $100,000 for CureSearch. We had 8 teams that walked for the Wilm’s Initiative. Not all teams physically walked but started a team and raised money in their own states. We raised $16,063 for the Initiative. Two Wilm’s teams were in the top 10 money raising teams for the walk (Sadie Q’s Crew-4th and Josh’s Dudes-8th). We will again have teams walking for the Wilm’s Initiative. I hope to get even more teams and raise more money.

Josh’s Dudes will again have a team. I think this year we should aim for at least the top 5 overall. I know it can be done. We have so many wonderful Dudes (friends and family) who are dedicated and help so much with the cause. Let us know if you want to be on the team. If you can’t attend the walk, you can still be part of the team. Diane will be contacting everyone in the near future.

I will finish up with a couple prayer requests. Please pray for Sadie (relapse Wilm’s) and Hannah (relapse Ewings sarcoma). They have both recently relapsed and could use some prayers and words of encouragement.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/sadielivers
www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahknudsen


Steve

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

Children's Hospital
8200 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68114

Links:

E-mail Author: dbrestel@yahoo.com

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Note: The foregoing information was authored by the patient, parent or guardian, or other parties who are solely responsible for the content. Such announcements or their content are not necessarily endorsed by CaringBridge, Inc. or any sponsoring agent.  This information does not confirm that anyone is or was actually a patient at any facility.