Cancer can't extinguish this boy's smile

By Ernest Hooper, Times Metro Columnist
In print: Friday, May 2, 2008

Story Tools E-mail this story Contact the editor Print this story Comment on this story Social Bookmarking [+] Digg Facebook Stumbleupon Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine

ADVERTISEMENT

Brandon Wilson is still smiling.

On Christmas Eve, he awoke with an awful headache. The pain grew so severe his mom and dad thought it was a migraine. When over-the-counter medicine didn't work, they took him to a walk-in clinic.

Doctors there sent him to the emergency room at St. Joseph's Hospital. The prognosis grew worse.

"In a matter of 10 minutes, they're telling us, 'There is a plum-sized tumor in your son's head,' " Monica Wilson explained.

Brandon went into surgery hours later. Doctors said he likely would be paralyzed after the procedure, but he wasn't. Doctors diagnosed him with glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant and aggressive brain cancer.

"It was a miracle he got a headache because in another four or six weeks, they may not have been able to operate, they may not have been able to get it all," Monica Wilson said. "God granted us his life."

He still has to undergo nearly a year of treatment.

Brandon Wilson is still smiling.

Now he's home schooled through a school district program. Last nine weeks, he made straight A's, all while receiving aggressive chemotherapy and radiation sessions. His doctor tells him it's okay to curse cancer, but he just shrugs and says he has to do this.

Friends from his Village Presbyterian Church youth group come to visit when they can. Sometimes they read the Bible with him, sometimes they just hang out.

"Sometimes kids are so much more resilient than adults," Monica says.

Brandon Wilson is still smiling.

On Sunday, family and friends and some people who have never met Brandon will gather for a benefit concert at Skipper's Smokehouse. Roger Casey, whose son, Reid, is Brandon's best friend, offered to have his Dukes of Juke band put together a simple event. Maybe 50 or 75 people.

Now they expect more than 500. More than 40 sponsors scroll across the top of his Web page. Proceeds will go toward Brandon's care as well as the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. The family is determined to spur more research into glioblastoma.

The concert will mark a rare day out for Brandon, and it comes just 24 hours before he begins his next round of chemotherapy. He turns 14 on Wednesday.

Brandon has taught people a lot of lessons.

"I know God has a plan and I just follow it," Brandon explains. "I've never asked why. I just do it."

Brandon Wilson is still smiling.

That's all I'm saying.