Brent's Story

In September of 2004, then 2 1/2 yr old Brent was diagnosed out of the blue with Stage IV Neuroblastoma (cancer). The next 15 months were a blur for the McCreesh family, as Brent spent most days at either the oncologist's office, Yale New Haven Hospital or Dana Farber/Boston Children's Hospital. He was immunosuppressed so germs were a constant enemy. Brent had six rounds of chemo, two stem cell transplants and three weeks of radiation.Three years post-transplant is Brent's "magic date." On May 3, 2008 he reached 35 months post transplant. His January scans were clear and he is getting retested June 2008 (the 3 year mark). Brent loves school, soccer, Pokemon, Checkers, Legos, Star Wars, High School Musical, and bugging his sisters.

The McCreeshes couldn't have made it through Brent's treatment without their incredible friends and family and the community. When treatment ended, all those people still wanted to fight the disease - so TeamBrent was formed.

It must be a mistake…
It started off like a typical Monday for the McCreesh family from Southport, Connecticut. Dana, 5-months pregnant at the time, dropped her children, Madison (4) and Brent (2 ½), off at pre-school while her husband, Mike, went to southern Pennsylvania for a business meeting.

Though he seemed healthy, Brent had been a bit "off." Dana scheduled an 11 a.m. appointment with the pediatrician. The doctor, who has always been cautious, decided to perform some routine blood tests and, while waiting for the results, ordered an ultrasound to check for a number of potential causes.

Upon arriving at the ultrasound facility, Dana learned that she could not accompany Brent into the ultrasound because she was pregnant, and he could not go solo. While Dana was waiting for a friend to meet her to accompany Brent into the exam, Brent’s blood counts came back abnormal.

Their pediatrician immediately sent Dana and Brent to Yale-New Haven Medical Center. Expert after expert visited them in the Emergency Room to do more tests on Brent. As the hours wore on, the experts found nothing, and Brent grew increasingly lethargic. Around 3 p.m., Dana called Mike and asked him to leave the meeting and come to the hospital.

Mike arrived at 7:30 p.m. A few hours later, Brent was diagnosed with cancer–Stage IV Neuroblastoma. Dana’s first thought was, “what is Neuroblastoma and how can we get this fixed right now and go home?”

Neuroblastoma is a solid tumor that occurs in the immature cells, called neuroblasts, of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for involuntary actions of the body such as blushing, increasing heart rate and pupil dilation. Researchers believe that neuroblastomas form when normal neuroblasts fail to mature into nerve cells and begin growing and dividing uncontrollably, leading to the growth of cancerous cells. Most children are typically diagnosed with Neuroblastoma between the ages of 17 months and two years and approximately two-thirds have advanced disease that has spread to other parts of the body. About 600 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. annually.

Dana couldn’t believe her happy and energetic little boy had cancer. She held on to the hope of a misdiagnosis even as Brent was transferred to the pediatric oncology floor to await more tests in the morning. Going home was not an option, so Dana phoned her mother to ask her to relieve their babysitter (who she had called at noon to come for “a couple of hours”) and take care of Madison for the night. She only told her mother they were at the hospital and Brent had to stay overnight.

“I didn’t tell my mother that Brent had cancer because I was absolutely certain that the next day the doctors would tell us it was all a mistake,” says Dana.

A biopsy confirmed his diagnosis. Two days later, Brent started chemotherapy as the first step of his treatment using a Children’s Oncology Group protocol.

“We had no idea what was about to happen to us,” remembers Dana. “We had a child with daily blood transfusions, six rounds of chemo, a dozen surgeries, weeks of radiation, two stem cell transplants and 15 months of isolation. I was pregnant and then we had a newborn, our daughter, Kira; and we had a family life that we were trying to keep as normal as possible for Madison’s sake.”

Brent didn’t understand that his life was changing. Cancer treatment became his “normal.” Dana laughs when she recalls that after Brent returned home from months of hospital stays for his stem cell transplants, he asked her if he could go back to the hospital because it was more fun there, thanks to all of the wonderful nurses and volunteers.

At home, germs were a constant enemy for the McCreeshes since Brent’s therapy left him immuno-suppressed. Dana and Mike had to make the decision—should they pull Madison out of pre-school and essentially live in a bubble or try to manage the best they could.

They chose to keep Madison in school. But everyday activities depended on Brent’s morning blood counts. He would be fine and an hour later, Dana would have to rush him to the ER for yet another inpatient stay, taking her away from her daughters.

But, at the time, everyday activities depended on Brent’s morning blood counts. He would be fine and an hour later, Dana would have to rush him to the ER for yet another inpatient stay, taking her away from her daughters. She is extremely grateful to all of their family and friends who supported them with kind words and deeds and to Mike’s employer for being so flexible.

Post-Treatment

Brent is cancer-free. He goes for checkups twice a year at "Dr. Joe's" (Yale) and twice a year at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber (scans).

Three years post-transplant is Brent's "magic date." On May 3, 2008 he reached 35 months post transplant. His January scans were clear and he is getting retested June 2008 (the 3 year mark). Brent loves school, skiing, ice skating, playing board games (incessantly), Transformers, Legos, Star Wars, High School Musical, and bugging his sisters.

Everyone has something to contribute…

After the shell-shock of Brent’s diagnosis wore off, the McCreeshes realized that most people are not familiar with the randomness of childhood cancer and especially Neuroblastoma. They recruited everyone from their community who had been helping them out during Brent’s treatment and formed TeamBrent to fight childhood cancer.

“Advanced Neuroblastoma is rare and random and 10 years ago, it was largely incurable. Researchers and doctors have made great strides and now, children do survive,” says Dana. “But, it’s an aggressive cancer. Our hope is to buy time for the research.”