Our Story
Our son, Brandon was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on Memorial day of 2004. When the doctor first told us that our son had cancer, we cried like never before...our heart hurt. We went through about every emotion you could think of. We were totally paralyzed with grief and fear thinking our 4 year old son could die. The doctor said it was severe and we needed to get started right away with chemotherapy. After that, it seemed as everything was a blur and happened so fast. When your child's life is at stake...you move and don't look back.
We stayed in the hospital for about a month before Brandon got to go home. He was getting better, but it was going to be a long road ahead of us. We had to go through 3 years of chemotherapy. Lots of ups/downs, good times/bad times, but we went through it. You learn to be strong for the sake of your children. We love our kids so much :)
We had some hard times ahead of us to go through. We lost our jobs and about everything else due to being in the hospital so much. Employers wouldn't work with us, We were in sibling support for our daughter, trying to pay our bills, all while trying to keep a smile on our faces. There are many things a family can face when a child becomes ill. Cancer effects the whole family! But, things got better! Brandon is now in his 2nd year of maintenance therapy and we are going on 6 years now since his diagnoses this September 2010. In 3 more years he will be considered cured and in full remission :)
Update; our lives have totally turned around. We are no longer the same family, we are closer than ever before. We cherish the small thing in life and make lots of memeories. Friends Like Us was started to help children/families going through the same struggles. We so appreciate every moment God has given us here on this earth. We have held onto the word in Jeremiah 29:11 for years which says; " For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans for good and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future".
The name Friends Like us came to be when we were trying to help our son cope with his fear of going to the hospital all the time and having many procedures done on him; to his little body. So, we had a teddy bear made for him and put a port in its chest like Brandon
had and gave him a complete doctors kit to take care of the bear the same way the doctors took care of him. Little did we know, but a huge change was getting ready to take place. Brandon responded well to it! Brandon opened up to the doctors after that, the bear helped him greatly and the doctors & nurses used Brandon's bear to communicate with him. We really appreciated that!
Brandon named his bear Murry and said to us "Murry was a friend just like me" That's when Friends Like Us was born.
