MADE COUNTS!!

Brax has been doing really well after getting off to slow start in Delayed Intensification. The last couple weeks she has felt pretty good and not as tired. She finished the 1st have of DI on August 20th and made counts this past Tuesday and was able to jump right into the 2nd half of DI. She has 4 more weeks of intense chemo and then she can put that behind her. It will be 8 months of intensive chemo once this wraps up in September…..what a trooper!

Before going into surgery for IT Chemo to start 2nd half of DI. Let’s get it done with!!

Rewind to last week now and catch up…..

Brax and Bry and the TCT gymnasts got to get out of the gym and have ice cream at one of their teammate’s family’s ice cream shop. Always nice to get out and see people as there has been a lot of isolation the last 7 months.

Last Wednesday Brax had a really cool opportunity with Casey O’Brien and ESPN. Casey, another U of M patient and Gopher Football player, is doing a segment for ESPN about his story and he asked us if Brax would be involved for his shoot in the hospital. She was thrilled and gladly accepted.

Brax and Casey after the ESPN shoot at the hospital. Thanks Casey!
Brax & the 2019 Gopher Football Tix…she’s excited to get to some games!!

Tomorrow (Thursday), Brax also has another big opportunity. She was asked by Chad Greenway’s Lead the Way Foundation to be the featured person for his big Celebrity Waiter Night Fundraiser in September. They will be filming that tomorrow.

And then, as we had mentioned in a previous post. We will be starting a fund for Brax. She wants to continue to be involved and stay involved in helping others in her situation. We are partnering with the U of M Foundation and will be launching her website later this month. We are hoping to do big things for Masonic and the programs Brax is passionate about (Child Family Life, Kyle Rudolph’s End Zone and Jason Zucker’s Broadcast Studio) We will be posting more info once the fund kicks off, but we will be looking for everyone and anyone who is able to help make this a success and do BIG things.

#HandstandUp2Cancer

Brax finished her last treatment for the 1st half of DI this Tuesday. She’s back on steroids this week and those throw her off a bit, but otherwise doing well. Her counts are starting to trend down which is expected and anticipated during this phase, so we have be careful around crowds and making sure we are washing hands and being extra cautious for the next few weeks. It’s a bummer to get knocked back down after feeling really good for so many weeks, but it’s all part of the end goal and we are in the home stretch. Thanks to everyone for the constant and continued love, prayers and support.

Brax getting her last treatment of Doxo on Tuesday (aka The Red Devil)
DONE!!

Also, TeamBrax is challenging everyone to a handstand, starting now until next Friday, 8/23. $1 will be donated for each social media LIKE up to $500. The top handstand will receive a $100 Fandango GC and UNRL Original Tee. There will also be Tee’s for 2nd & 3rd. The remaining $ will be donated to Brax’s new TB1Fund. More details on that to follow as we finalize it. We will be reaching out to anyone and everyone to help raise $$ to be used to support Brax’s causes at Masonic.

Here’s mine below.  Reply with yours on Twitter or DM Instagram!  Good luck!  #handstandchallenge #HandstandUp2Cancer 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1NVhTrnSVq/

UNRL Week

After coming off a pretty down week, Brax bounced back nicely and had a great 2nd week of DI.

She is feeling much better and is much happier over all.

She had her 2nd treatment on Tuesday, but due to her blood pressure and pulse being elevated, Melissa ordered an EKG to be safe before starting the Doxo. Some of the side effects of the drugs can be damage to the heart and they are overly cautious when it comes to this. Her previous scans of the heart have all come back good, so we had no real concerns, but Melissa had a cardiologist review the EKG before administering the Doxo. The cardiologist had no major concerns and based on the other drugs she’s taking, they said the rise in pulse and blood pressure is most likely due to her anti-nausea meds – Zofran.

Other than that small bump this week, everything else went really well. We have one more treatment this coming Tuesday, along with another round of steroids and then she will be be half way thru this last phase (the last week of this month is a recovery week).

On Friday, we had the chance to meet Michael Jordan and his team at UNRL. They are a local clothing company and are very involved with the local athletes and charities (Jason Zucker, Adam Thielen, JT Brown, and more). We went an toured their St. Paul HQ and sat down with them to discuss some ideas Brax has. Brax is working with the U of M to start her own fund to help raise money for the Masonic Children’s Hospital and she wants to partner with UNRL to help do t-shirts for donors….more on this to come once it launches as we will be reaching out to everyone to help support Brax’s Fund and her projects. It’s going to be exciting!

Brax sporting her new gear. Thanks UNRL!
Brax & Michael (Owner/CEO) outside of UNRL HQ. Thanks for everything on Friday.
Brax & Mackenzie. Thanks so much
The fam.

The whole team was fabulous and sent everyone home with a bunch of gear. Thanks again to Michael, Kelsey, Mackenzie and Crew. Check them out online – great company and great gear!

https://www.unrl.co

2nd Treatment & Special Guests

Brax went from feeling AWESOME last week to feeling pretty punk this week after starting Delayed Intensification. She’s doing much better than she was during Induction which is great, but it’s been hard for her to get knocked down like this again. In her true spirit she’s taking it one day at a time and as her friend Casey has told her the goal is to “WIN each day” and she’s doing just that.

She had her 2nd treatment Friday in the Clinic and it went well and she’s feeling pretty good as of today. She is now off until Tuesday and looking forward to a few days of nothing.

Also, the Gopher Women’s Gymnastics Coach reached out a bit ago to see if Brax would be OK with a couple of the girls stopping to see her during one of her clinic visits. So after treatment on Friday, Abbie and Lexi swung by to say hi and give Brax a little encouragement. Thanks again to Coach Hansen, Abbie and Lexi for making this happen.

Thanks so much to Lexi and Abbie stopping by to say hi! Was great to see you both! Go Gophers!!