Our strong, kind and unassuming Brandon is travelling a journey no one would ever imagine for a man in the prime of his life. Sally has been his rock since they learned the news and with their faith in God and the love and support of friends, they are charting each day as it comes.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Update: 16 October 2018
In mid-July, Brandon was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa (inside of cheek) as a result of a biopsy. A further CT scan, revealed some lymph node involvement. On August 31, Brandon underwent surgery to remove the tumour. He had a radial forearm flap procedure to reconstruct the inside of the cheek and a radical lymph node dissection of the neck.
Brandon was in hospital for 11 days and has been recovering at home since.
The pathology report showed that he has a locally aggressive head and neck cancer. It was staged as 4a. There were multiple lymph nodes affected and the cancer cells were also outside of the lymph capsule. The margins around the tumour were tight. These factors mean that he will require radiation with concurrent chemotherapy. This next phase of treatment starts on October 17th 2018. Radiation will be daily and Chemotherapy will be once every 3 weeks.
Brandon falls into a 2% category where he has no risk factors and they are unsure of the cause.
Support Needs
Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. The Stelling's are a true example of living their faith each and every day in all they do. The biggest gift and support would be to reflect and pray for Brandon and the Stelling family.
Surrounded by family and many friends, offers of help and support have been pouring in. A few ways to help...
~ Carmen Moxon has set up a schedule for meals to be brought by the house for the family. Use this link: www.TakeThemAMeal.com/TVAA0710 (
http://www.takethemameal.com/TVAA0710) or contact Carmen with any questions
~ The children have various sports activities and offers to drive to/from would be much appreciated. Feel free to share the Caring Bridge site with team parents.
~ Sally will be taking time away from work to look after Brandon and to provide support to the children (and very importantly looking after herself too!). This journey will not be easy emotionally with good and bad days. I "insisted" that we explore ways to ease the financial burden. The Stelling's have always been generous in their support of others and charitable causes, I asked that they get comfortable with the power of the cumulative help their circle of friends and family can offer. As such, to help Sally and the family while she is not working, you can make a donation through the GoFundMe Link under the Ways to Help icon above. Apologies in advance - the platform requires a financial goal to be set which is not what was desired. Your consideration and donation is gratefully appreciated. Your donation can also be anonymous.
Finally, John Maiorino (my husband) and I (Petra Kuret close friend) along with Sally will use CaringBridge as a way to provide updates. Please feel free to share with others as appropriate. On behalf of the Stelling Family, they appreciate your prayers, support and words of hope and encouragement.
