Kupkake, you are doing a terrific job of rallying the troops for Brett. Thanks for helping us to stay informed on his condition.

@ Mullen, how about giving this thread a sticky at the top of Halftime?

Thanks for the sticky on this thread Mods. Top notch move!

Wednesday night update from the Jacksons:

Wednesday Update

Brett did really good last night. He didn't lose any of his abilities after the seizure yesterday. He seemed the same except that he was a little more sleepy because they increased his seizure medication again. He was running a slight temperature today as well, but that was easily taken care of with Tylenol. We're working on finding a place here in Birmingham close to the hospital so that we can eventually take Brett "home" but still be very close to his doctors here at Children's. It would be nice to have a place for our family to be together again as well. Take care of each other. Tanda, Joe, Brett, Josh, and Matt.

Quick update

It is 3:09 AM on Thursday morning...and Brett is still awake! His days and nights are all mixed up. He is up all night and sleeps all day. But right now he looks good. He is alert and watching some late night cartoons (something about a magic school bus). The seizures he had (he had 4 or 5 in 48 hours) did not seem to set him back any. And so far he seems to be tolerating his chemo pretty good. Hopefully he will have quiet days ahead. We want to thank you all for your very kind comments and for the donations (if you would like to donate just leave a comment and we will tell you how). It means a lot to us. I also want to thank my friends from Tide Sports, You Tube (Scott you are great), Kenpo Talk, and Mississippi Sports talk for all of your encouraging words. I also want to thank my mom's Pogo friends. You guys are great! Thank you. Joe

Follow Brett's story: www.carepages.com/brett jackson

Donate to the Jacksons: http://www.freewebs.com/window...ng/howyoucanhelp.htm

Pray for Brett and his family

Saturday's Update on Brett:

Saturday Update.
Posted Aug 30, 2008 2:40pm
Brett's been stable for the past couple of days. He's had some short seizures that come and go, but for the most part he's done well. His doctors and nurses have been teaching us how to use his G-tube to administer medicine and feedings and we're learning how to use the equipment that we'll eventually have to use when he's discharged.

We've been able to get him out of bed and into the wheelchair at least once a day when he's alert enough to stay awake while sitting. We can always tell when he's restless because he'll keep raising his head as if to say "I'm ready to get up". He's done well with his chemotherapy so we're happy with that. His neuro-oncologist will do a re-assessment in 3 weeks (including an MRI) to see if this treatment is helping at all and how his disease has progressed.

We're getting some help from friends and family who are familiar with Birmingham to find an apartment in a safe neighborhood. Hopefully we'll find something soon. Thanks for reading.

Tanda, Joe, Brett, Josh & Matt.


All, the link to the donate page is in my signature. Please help out this wonderful family if you are able!

Thanks,
CTG

Tiders and Visitors-

I am placing Tanda and Joe's updates in the lead post on the thread so anyone interested can go to the thread and get the latest update there.

Thank you all for your support of this TS family. Although many of us do not know them, a sick child of theirs becomes one of ours.

Keep up the good work - it appears the donations are coming in!

Pray for Brett and his family too.

Kupkake, thank you so much for doing this. I can't tell you how much it means to Tanda and I that people we don't even know are so concerned for us and have helped our son and us. This is a very difficult time for us. Just knowing that there are people out there who care about our son and us is a big comfort. Thank you.

CrimsonTydeGirl, thank you. I saw your signature and it meant so much to us. It's just hard to find the right words.

And thank you all for the donations. They have helped so much. Neither Tanda or I have been able to work much during the past 4 months (I can't believe it has been 4 months. It seems like a lifetime ago, and yet seems so very recent.) We have been in the hospital with our son much of those 4 months. This go around we have been here for 7 weeks now. The support you have given us has helped us more than you can ever know.

There is a hospital in New York City that has a treatment that might be able to help Brett. It's experimental, but it has shown promise. We were all set to go, we were supposed to be there last week. But, our insurance decided they will not pay for the treatment. The treatment is a injection of certain antibodies into the CSF. It binds to the cancer cells and destroys them. This injection costs $100,000. With the insurance not wanting to pay I do not know what we are going to do. I would give anything I could to get this injection for my son. His life in a real sense may depend on getting that injection. But they decided to put money over the life of a 9 year old little boy. It is unreal. It makes me mad and sad. It is frustrating that money has been put ahead over my son's life like this. I just don't know what to say. It pisses me off.

Brett started another round of chemo last week and a drug that is supposed to kill the blood supply to the tumors and thus kill the tumors. I hope that works. It wasn't the first treatment option for him, the injection in NYC was, but I guess it is better than nothing. I just hope it works. I hope my son can get some relief from it.

We will keep you updated. And again, thank you all for very much.

Joe & Tanda and the boys.

Joe and Tanda -

There are no words to describe the support and prayers you have from this TS group. Brett has become our child too. We all want the best for him and your family.

I appreciate you taking time to come on the board and tell us the details about Brett and your family. Hopefully we can help you raise $100,000 for Brett's experimental treatment.

May God bless you all and keep you in the palm of his hand.

I work for a company that owns multiple apartment complexes in Birmingham. If you need any assistance please PM me and I will see what I can do.

Hey. This is Tanda, Joe's wife. I just wanted to take a minute to thank you guys! I think there have been more donations from the TideSports Forums than any other site on the net. We're truly grateful for all that you guys and girls have done.

Please keep passing the word around. $100,000 is no easy sum to collect. But it's a small price to pay to keep our child alive. Thank you everyone.

TANDA AND JOE: Is your insurance BCBS? Have you formally appealed their decision? Read your policy and find out how to appeal if you haven't. Call me with any questions. My office is 256-766-0460.

This thread should be a sticky on each forum.

quote:

Originally posted by double nickel:
This thread should be a sticky on each forum.

Thanks double nickel. I initially posted on the sports forum and halftime but this one got the sticky. I think we could raise a lot more money if we had a sticky on the sports forum.

Do you have any ideas?

This thread is now officially stickied in all forums! WOOHOO!

BamaBlitz posted in a thread in the TideSports forum that they have raised approximately $23K. Outstanding! Lets see what else we can do to help them get to $100K!!

Here is the latest update, please pray for this family.

Friday Update~
Posted 5 hours ago

We saw Brett this morning and he decided to finally wake up. But, after realizing that he had a tube down his throat and his hands were secured by bands (to keep him from pulling the tube out), he went into a panic mode and ended up having a seizure. He was sedated again to calm him down and let him rest. That means he'll have to stay intubated again today.

We got the results of his MRI today as well. The disease is gradually getting worse. Brett's oncologist has been trying to ask the hospital in New York if they could just send the antibody down for "compassionate use". We're still working on that plan. If we can get the name of the drug manufacturer, we could try to get them to send it here and Brett will not have to travel at all, which would be best considering his current state.

A misunderstanding from doctor to doctor: there is not a tumor/mass in Brett brain. It is swelling. And the swelling has been aggrivating his situation causing him to have more seizures. They are going to try to treat the swelling with steroids. Only time will tell if that will help.

Also, he has bacteria in his blood and is being treated with antibiotics.

It's just one thing after another, you know?

Thanks for reading and keeping up with Brett's situation. We truly appreciate the support and kind words. This is the most difficult thing we've ever had to go through.

Take care and hug your kiddos!!

Tanda

I am sorry I have not updated as much as I need to. It's just been so busy here. They are going to try to take Brett off the breathing machine tomorrow and get him to breathe on his own. Big day tomorrow. I am nervous about that.

We talked to Brett's neuro-oncologist today. There may be other treatments that might help Brett, including one that is made at the University of Alabama. So there is a bit of hope!

The Tuscaloosa News called us today. They are running Brett's story in tomorrow's paper (9-13-08). If it in on their website too I will link it here.

We have also started a campaign to get people to call our governor and try to get him to override Medicaid's decision. We have had a many many people from many different states and countries call on Brett's behalf. We would like to ask you as well to email, call, or write our governor and tell him to override Medicaid's decision and let Brett have his treatment. Here is the governor's contact info:

Alabama Governor Bob Riley's Office Mailing Address
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130


Governor's Office Telephone Numbers
Switchboard: (334) 242-7100
Fax: (334) 353-0004
Email: Email Link

Thank you all so much!

Joe