Brendan Franco doesn’t want gifts or money, but he desperately wants to help other children with cancer live longer and be cured. He prays for children who have cancer every night and offers God his pain so they will not have to suffer.
Brendan was diagnosed with Stage lV lung and liver cancer more than a year ago. At the time of his diagnosis he was given three weeks to live. He was 12 years old. He is a very special child by putting other’s healing before his own.
The Enterprise community has prayed with and supported his family since his story was first told in The Southeast Sun in June 2011. The Sun and the community have followed him throughout the past year. His family believes having great doctors and the support and prayers of the community are the reasons Brendan is still with us today.
“I can’t believe the things people have done for Brendan. I am so honored to live here. It is the best city in the U.S. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Brendan’s mother, Bonnie, said.
Brendan is not a typical 13-year-old. He has blessed the community with his stories of faith and resilience, but while he is special to so many — he is shy about the attention that is given to him.
“He doesn’t understand and said he only sees other children who are sicker or more deserving than he is,” Bonnie said.
A few weeks ago Children’s Hospital of Alabama pediatric oncologist Dr. Joseph Pressey told Brendan they could no longer medically treat him because further chemotherapy or radiation would kill him. After the conversation with Dr. Pressey, Brendan came home to Enterprise and is being cared for through hospice.
Brendan says he doesn’t need anything, but he does want his family and friends to donate money to help cure other children with cancer.
“If I can die knowing that people are giving to help other children beat cancer, then I can die in peace,” he said.
Bonnie worked with Dr. Pressey and made a webpage that shares a medical breakthrough in chidren’s cancer research by way of the Developmental Therapeutics Team. To get the trials started at Children’s Hospital of Alabama by the end of the year, Brendan hopes to raise a minimum of $125,000.
“What kind of kid would I be if I didn’t try to help other kids with cancer,” Brendan said. “I think that would be very selfish, don’t you? Besides, God wants me to do this.”
Brendan loves his doctor, believes in him whole-heartedly and says he probably would have died a long time ago if Children’s Hospital didn’t have the program. Brendan thinks it will cure many children with cancer, and because of Brendan the research will be expanded and include leukemia as well as all solid tumors. Brendan wants to give the program money so the research can be done and the doctors can start curing children. In fact, the first $500 donation came from Brendan himself.
“He took his birthday money and gave it to help the other children with cancer,” Bonnie said.
Walmart store manager Tommy Raines was so moved after reading a story in The Southeast Sun’s, Aug. 15 edition about the Enterprise World Series team making Brendan an honorary member of the team, he reached out and asked what Walmart could do to honor the team and Brendan.
Raines, Enterprise Parks and Recreation director Billy Powell and coaches and members of the World Series team gathered at Warren Field last Friday to present Brendan with a World Series shirt, hat and some Alabama memorabilia. Raines also told Brendan Walmart wanted to be one of the first to give to his charity.
Walmart also donated a guitar and case signed by 13 of the stars at 2012 BamaJam, including Kid Rock to be sold on eBay Inc. All proceeds from the sale will go to Brendan’s charity. The guitar and pictures will posted and bidding will begin Aug. 29.
For more information on Brendan and his efforts, go to www.brendanfranco.com
What is the Developmental Therapeutics Team?
Currently, two approaches to using T-cell therapy in pediatric cancer patients are being studied at UAB. The first approach is to use medicines to stimulate the production of T-cells in pediatric patients. The second approach will be to use T-cells taken from a relative such as a parent, stimulate them in the laboratory, and then infuse them into the patient.
Initial trials at UAB are being aimed at children with aggressive tumors for which no proven treatments exist. Through this work, Dr. Pressey and his colleagues are hoping that T-cells will prove to be an effective and tolerable means of treating cancer in children.
The Developmental Therapeutics Program is undertaking clinical trials of therapies such as targeted anti-cancer molecules, new chemotherapies, immunostimulatory therapy and even cancer fighting viruses — among many others. The team gives careful consideration to determine which study is the most appropriate for each child, their family, and the child’s cancer.
The Developmental Therapeutics Program brings together top clinicians, researchers, patients, and their families. Together the doctors study the newest, most promising therapies made possible through discoveries of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and researchers around the world.
For more information, or to make a donation on behalf of Brendan, go to hope4childhoodcancercure.com. Community members can make a donation to the Developmental Therapeutics Team, T Cell research in Brendan’s name.
Click on “Donate” to go to Brendan’s page.
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