It’s been a big week since the last post and we are happy to report that Brax is on the upswing and doing very well. Below is a recap of the last week and half.
Last Friday, the U of M had one their big yearly fundraisers. This particular one in the fall is called Fashion Fest and both the girls were asked to model for UNRL. UNRL is a local clothing company that is doing all of the gear for TB1Fund and a great group of people. Brax and Bry were able to wear their clothing and had a blast doing it. It was late by the time they hit the runway, but Brax powered thru. We also did this event with the Battaglia brothers and significants. It was a great night start to finish and a lot of money was raised for the U of M…in the neighborhood of $480K!!
You can check out the runway video on the Fun Stuff page. Other photos from the night below.
Saturday was race day! We got up early (and it hurt), and headed over to Champlin for the 1st Annual Flippin’ 5K hosted by Brax’s gym, Twin City Twisters, aka TCT. We had a great turnout, especially since it was done on pretty short notice and happened during deer season. So to see the crowd we got was impressive. We can’t thank Kim and Lisa for the time they put in to get this organized and in before the snow fell. It was AWESOME! And besides a great weather day, a great race course, great people and support we were able to raise nearly $8K for TB1Fund. All of which Brax will be able to use to help families in need at the U of M!
We had a couple days off after Fashion Fest and the Flippin’ 5K to recover and then we were headed back to the U for appointments and treatment. Tuesday was officially Brax’s last treatment of Interim Maintenance II (see the roadmap below). This was another HUGE milestone and we are all happy to be done with it. The next phase (and FINAL phase!!) is Maintenance. Maintenance will begin on December 3rd and last for 18 months, broken up into 90-day cycles (schedule below the roadmap). Brax will do radiation for the 1st 2 weeks and then we are only back at the Journey Clinic once a month! She will take daily meds and chemo pills at home throughout this process, but will not be required to come in other than the one time per month (assuming all goes well).
We are so looking forward to Brax feeling well. It’s been over a year of feeling crappy between JIA and cancer and we are ready to get some normalcy back.
And finally to cap off Brax’s week o’ fun, TB1 Fund held our first hospitality day at the U of M. This was important to Brax and it turned out great. The event, dubbed “Donut Ever Give Up” was held in the lobby and thanks to Steve and Dunkin’ it turned out awesome. Brax is not a big sweet/candy girl, but she loves donuts and has always loved Dunkin’. So to get them to team up with TB1 Fund was pretty special. We are hoping to do this quarterly for families and patients at the hospital along with many other things. Again, thank you to everyone who has supported TB1Fund. It’s off to great start and we are excited to see all the good things that are coming of it. If you haven’t checked out that site, please do at www.TB1Fund.org
As always, thank you to everyone for the continued prayers and support! It’s been a long 10 months, but everything is moving in the right direction. Please continue to keep Brax in your prayers as we still have over a year and a half of treatment remaining, but it should be much smoother sailing. In addition, please continue to keep some of our good friends we have known for years and others we have met thru this journey in your prayers as well, specifically – Bella, Megan, Jake & Casey.