Brad’s Story

Site created on July 25, 2019

A few years back, Brad/Dad/Papa 😊 had a doctors appointment during which some indicators of leukemia were present.  At that time the decision was made to monitor those numbers as they were concerning but not immediately alarming.  I think in my eyes, Dad had already beat cancer twice so I wasn’t extremely concerned.  This summer Dad went in for an appointment and the test results were different.  Dad was presented with two options.  Medicate and, at best, get a couple years or fight it with chemo and a potential bone marrow transplant.  Dad chose not to resign himself to the disease but to fight it.  


Without much time to prepare, and with some inside help, Dad was admitted to the University of Minnesota to begin chemo.  After a month in the hospital, the chemo was doing what it should and the numbers were looking good. Dad was released under the caveat that he has to be a short response time from the hospital and has to come in regularly for transfusions and tests.  Fortunately, Kevin and Deb (brother and sister-in-law) live close and are very caring people so he had a warm and comfortable place to go.


We are thankful that our prayers, and those of family and friends, are helping Dad trend in the right direction.  It will be a long road but we have been blessed up to this point and will continue praying and thinking good thoughts.  Thank you for taking the time to visit Dad’s page and we appreciate any and all thoughts and prayers. :)

Newest Update

Journal entry by Karen Riba —

Once again it’s been a long time since I have given an update on Dad’s condition.  With everything that has happened, and is happening, we are grateful to be where we are at.  Dad has no signs of leukemia in his blood or marrow and is virus free.  Unfortunately, the bouts with the viruses have left his cells pretty depleted.  To give the them a kick start, next Tuesday Dad will receive a stem cell boost.  We hope this will be the push into the home stretch that finds Dad able to return to Sartell soon.  It has been almost a year!  We are so fortunate that Kevin and Deb have been such great hosts and caregivers :) We hope this finds everyone safe and healthy.  
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