On November 23, 2009, our lives were turned upside down and changed in an instant. A moment that will always be frozen in time for me - the moment I received “the call” from my wife Samantha saying she had cancer. Unbelievable - she was only 34 years old!! "How can she possibly have breast cancer that has moved into her lymph nodes!!??!!" In that moment we had no idea what the future held for us? We had no idea what the future held for our 4 yr old son Cooper and our 5 MONTH old son Maxwell? We had no idea the battle that lied ahead - for no one can prepare you for the moment you hear those words! The one thing we did know was we had each other, we had our boys, we had a tremendous support system of family and friends and we were going to fight this dreaded disease with everything we had!!
Fast forward to 2019 and we embark on the 10 year anniversary of that fateful day and we remember everything we went through in the wake of that devasting day in November 2009. We remember the multiple rounds and months and months of aggressive chemotherapy! We remember the 14 hour double mastectomy surgery followed by months of recovery, which was then followed by months of radiation! We remember the countless trips to University of Pennsylvania cancer center! We remember the ongoing showering of support from friends and family! We remember navigating the waters of trying to figure out what was too much or too little to share with our 4 year old son Cooper as to not scare him but give him enough information to feel safe! We remember the overwhelming feeling of despair as Samantha felt like she was “missing” Max’s first year of life!! And finally, we remember the overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the time we live in and the unbelievable resources afforded to us to test for and fight the diagnosis of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Samantha received on that fateful day!
I now look ahead to November 24, 2019 and my goal of completing my first marathon in honor of Samantha and all of the families that have dealt with this disease! This will be 10 years and 1 day from her diagnosis that changed our lives forever. This will be a day to celebrate her passion and fight as she beat her breast cancer! This will be a day to remember those that were less fortunate, but no less passionate and strong in their fight as they fought their battle!
With this in mind, I am starting a fundraising campaign to donate funds to the American Cancer Society! Organizations such as this are critically important in this ongoing fight!
PLEASE....PLEASE......PLEASE consider donating what you can with the knowledge that every little bit helps in finding a cure!
Thank you all in advance from the Brannon Family!
Tad, Samantha, Cooper and Max
