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| 1980 |
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 Brandi Nicole Ward made her entry into this world on
December 30, 1980. From the moment she was born she made her presence known. She brought such joy and happiness to our lives and made our perfect family complete.
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| March 29, 1981 |
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Brandi was baptised in the East Bernard Methodist Church. This is where she began her journey of faith. Twenty years to the very day, she would have to draw on that faith to help her through a very sad time in her life. |
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| 1982 |
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Started going to Mrs. Hlavinka's daycare. It was there, at age two, she met her lifelong best friend Sherée. |
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| 1986 - 1999 |
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Brandi attended East Bernard Elementary, East Bernard Junior High and East Bernard High School. These years were filled with many fun times and unforgettable memories. She met many life long friends along the way. Life was good for Brandi. |
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| May, 1999 |
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Graduated from East Bernard High School. |
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| August, 1999 |
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Started her college career at Wharton County Junior College |
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| August, 2000 |
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Brandi began her life long dream of attending Texas A & M. She was so proud to be a "Aggie".  |
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| March 29, 2001 |
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This is a very sad day for our family. It was the day Brandi's daddy went to heaven. He was coming home from work and had a massive heart attack. He was only 48 years old. As a friend said in his eulogy....."He didn't die on the side of the road, he simply changed lanes and went to a new home". He will forever be in our hearts!  |
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| June, 2003 |
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Brandi went to the emergency room with what was diagnosed as a migraine headache. It was the first indication of the nightmare that was about to come. |
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| August, 2003 |
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 Gig'em Aggies.......It was an exciting day when Brandi walked across the stage at Texas A & M and receive her college diploma.
Just three days later, she finally achieved her lifelong goal of becoming a teacher. She began teaching fourth grade at Anson Jones Elementary in Bryan, Texas.
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| September to December, 2003 |
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Brandi continued to have bad headaches. We thought at first it was the stress of starting a new job. Little did we know......... |
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| Christmas Eve, 2003 |
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Brandi had a headache that would not go away. Our dear friend and family doctor ordered a CAT scan to see what was going on. The news was not good. When others were celebrating Christmas, Brandi was dealing with a huge brain tumor. Our life as we knew it suddenly turned upside down. |
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| December 29, 2003 |
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Brandi underwent her first brain surgery. The news was not good. The diagnosis was Glioblastoma Stage IV brain cancer. She was told she had six months to live. As one of Brandi's best friends said......"Brandi has just met the tumor but the tumor has yet to meet Brandi". She was a fighter and the fight was on. Brandi refused to let this tumor take over her life. |
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| January 20, 2004 |
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This was Brandi's first visit with Dr. W. K. Alfred Yung, neuro-oncologist at M. D. Anderson. We went there for a second opinion. It was there that we learned that Brandi had to face yet another brain surgery before any other treatment could be done. Her tumor was just too big.
Dr. Yung was a kind and caring doctor. He gave her the gift of extra time and we will always be grateful for that. |
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| January 22, 2004 |
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Brandi met with Dr. Raymond Sawaya and Dr. David Ferson for the first time. Dr. Sawaya was her neuro-surgeon and Dr. Ferson was her anesthesiologist. She instantly bonded with both of them. The thought of having an awake craniotomy did not faze her. In fact she thought it would be something very interesting she could tell her students about. |
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| February 4, 2004 |
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Brandi had an awake craniotomy where Dr. Sawaya was able to remove 80 to 90% of the huge tumor that had invaded her brain.
She called me twice from the operating room. It was truly amazing to hear her talking about kolaches while Dr. Sawaya was busy removing some of the tumor from her brain.
After the surgery Dr. Ferson told us that Brandi had been the funniest patient he had ever had. While in surgery it was Dr. Ferson's job to keep Brandi talking so that they were always aware where her speech was and would not damage it. Dr. Ferson told us that during surgery Brandi decided she wanted to talk with Dr. Sawaya also. She kept calling out "Dr. Sawaya...Dr. Sawaya". Even though he was busy performing surgery on her brain, he finally answered her with "What is it you want Brandi?" Brandi replied "Dr. Sawaya - so why ya in my brain?". To that Dr. Sawaya answered "Brandi do not make me laugh. I do not want to cut something I am not suppose to".
Brandi was quite proud of herself after the surgery. She thought that was a clever comment and she had not even thought of it ahead of time. Only my Brandi woudl be cracking jokes in the middle of having brain surgery. Ha! |
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| February 17, 2004 |
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Went to see Dr. Sawaya for a followup visit. Got WONDERFUL news.  The pathology reports showed that the tumor was not what was first diagnosed, They felt it was instead a very rare tumor that could be considered benign if it did not grow again. When we went to Dr. Yung the next day, he confirmed the report and told us that, if it does not grow anymore, Brandi can live a long and healthy life. He told her to go out and LIVE HER LIFE. No other treatment was recommended at this time. A followup appointment was scheduled in two months. We rejoiced and knew that it was a MIRACLE from GOD.
Little did we know what two years later to the very day would bring.........
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| Summer, 2004 |
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Brandi is hired as a kindergarten teacher for East Bernard Elementary School. She turns in her resignation to Bryan ISD so that she can accept the position near her home and M. D. Anderson Medical Center. She teaches swimming lessons for several children in the community. She goes as a chaperon on the MYF youth mission trip. Life was looking good for Brandi. But then....the headaches began again.  |
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| August, 2004 |
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Brandi was busy getting her classroom ready for her little ones when she got very dizzy and began having headaches again. We went back to M. D. Anderson for another MRI. Unfortunately the news was not good. Seems the tumor had begun to grow again. Since the tumor was very rare, there was not a lot of information about it so Dr. Yung first decided to try her on the chemotherapy Temador. She was to be on this chemo for two years. Luckily she was able to tolerate it well with anti-nausea drugs. She NEVER complained and REFUSED to let chemotherapy get in the way of her teaching her precious kindergarteners. She only missed one day of school that year for sickness. The other days she had to take off were for doctors visits and could not be avoided. She was determined to live as normal life as she could and live it to the fullest. She was able to complete the school year and prove what an awesome teacher she could be despite the setbacks she had endured. It was very important to her to be the best teacher she could be for her little ones and set them on their path of education with all the tools they needed to be successful. |
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| July, 2005 |
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Brandi began to have headaches again. The MRI showed that there was growth again. The chemo was not working. It was a major setback for her. Dr. Yung felt she needed to have radiation. We worried, though, because her tumor was so big and she would have almost full brain radiation. There can be lots of bad side effects with that much radiation but we really didn't have another choice. Brandi asked lots of questions, as she always did, and decided that was the route she would take. She again NEVER complained about having to go in five days a week for the next six weeks. Our community came to our aid and she had lots of kind people who helped get her back and forth from her treatments. The radiation itself was not painful but it left my Brandi very tired. She also, for the first time, began to lose her hair. That was sad to her but again she refused to let this get her down. She wore caps and scarves for a while but finally decided that "Bald was Beautiful". |
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| August, 2005 |
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This school year didn't get off to a great start because Brandi was off the first week to complete her radiation treatments. She was so worried that her new little students would be confused and their learning disrupted so she worked many long nights making all the preparations so that everything would be in order for the substitute each day she was off. When she did get to go back to the classroom full time, she continued showing what an awesome teacher she was despite suffering some of the many side effects from the radiation. Her fellow co-workers would later comment that they never realized how really sick she was because she never complained or asked for help doing things. She was determined to do things right and to do them for herself no matter how long it might take her. |
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| August to December, 2005 |
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These months were challenging for Brandi in many ways. As her Mom, I knew the many struggles she had but she never complained and never wanted any "special treatment". She just wanted to be healthy. Teaching took almost all the strength she had but she never gave up. She was determined to be an awesome teacher for her little ones and I feel she achieved that goal. She was so good at minimizing her problems that sometimes we forgot how ill she really was. |
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| January, 2006 |
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This was a very exciting month for our community. It was the month ABC's Extreme Makeover - Home Edition came to town and built a beautiful home for a very deserving family. Brandi, Jamie and I had such fun working on the "Build". Brandi even got to be part of the production when they filmed her and three other cancer survivors donating a tree to the family. It was during the filming that Brandi became very dizzy again. Since she had just had a good scan on January 6, 2006, our friend and family doctor really thought she had an inner ear infection. When it didn't get better, however, we made another trip to M. D. Anderson. Again...the news was not good. The tumor had shown significant growth in just three weeks from the 1/6/06 scan. Brandi was hospitalized and the end of her journey with cancer had begun. |
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| End of January, 2006 |
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This was a very difficult time for my Brandi. She lost the use of her right hand and most of the use of her right leg. She had always been so independent and this was very hard for her. They started her on a trial chemotherapy cocktail and she began physical therapy in hopes of getting back the use of her arm and leg. The next three weeks were probably the most difficult for my Brandi but she continued to be determined and her will to live was constant. Unfortunately the seizures began with such intensity and with each seizure we began to lose a little bit of our Brandi. It was heartbreaking to watch. |
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| February 15, 2006 |
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Brandi had two major seizures at home. We took her back to M. D. Anderson. The scan showed explosive growth. Dr. Yung told us he had done all he could for her. We now had to place her in God's hands. |
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| February 17, 2006 |
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Life is like mail......sometimes you just don't get it. That was one of the many quotes my Brandi had written in a journal she kept. It is so true! I really don't get why she had to be taken from this world at such a young age but that is OK. God had a plan for my baby and His plan for her ended February 17, 2006. The human doctors could not heal her so her sister, Jamie, best friend, Sheree' and I were with her as she made her way to Heaven's door. God met her there and, because He is the Master Physician, he made her whole and healthy once again. Once she was healed she went into the loving arms of her Daddy who had left us almost five years before. No one could love a little girl more than her daddy. I know that they are rejoicing now in the majesty of Heaven. One day we will meet again. |
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