Our little brother Jeff lost his 4-year battle with brain cancer last year, just a few days after his 42nd birthday. He was the youngest of 7, stood 5' 10" and was a successful engineer – but he will always be our "little" brother and the bravest person we’ve known.
We all miss Jeff very much, and it is in his honor that our sister Beth and I are running as part of Team McGraw in the Chicago Marathon – and Kristin, Jeff's wife, in the NYC Marathon – to help raise funds and build awareness of the fight against Brain Cancer.
Jeff's world was turned upside down one day in early January 2004 when he lost vision in one eye and then blacked out. That night at the hospital, the X-rays showed a walnut-sized mass in his brain. There had been no warning signs. In the coming days, surgery was scheduled. A biopsy of his tumor found that it was grade-4 Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive type of primary brain tumor.
Despite being told by the first specialist he encountered that there was no cure and that he had less than a year to live, Jeff went about his life as if he knew better. After much research, (and a friendly recommendation from their local oncologist), they soon found themselves under the watchful care of the wonderful medical team at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.
As the months passed, Jeff endured radiation treatment, multiple chemotherapies, 2 more recurrences of his cancer, 2 more brain surgeries, excruciating headaches, and brain hemorrhages, and he suffered through what seemed like a million different drug therapies with a ton of side effects.
But like the Energizer Bunny, he just kept going and going.
Jeff’s attitude was that he was going to beat his disease and these things were just detours on his road to recovery. He loved life and lived it as such; he even rode a 60-mile American Cancer Society Bike-a-thon the day before he was to leave for his third brain surgery.
In 2007, his cancer came back for the fourth time. This time, it was no longer responsive to any of the available treatments. He underwent his 4th brain surgery in the summer of '07, and he continued his valiant fight until the end of November.
With his medical team's care and Jeff's determination, we were blessed to have him in our lives for almost 3 more years than what we had been told to expect.
Jeff has been an inspiration to everyone that knew him or heard about his fight, and I hope you will help me honor him by sponsoring my run. Thank you.
Ya Gotta Believe!
Dave |
