This one hurts

Last summer I received a phone call from Vada Murray after a little phone tag. We had no problem connecting. Both of us were diagnosed with cancers that were not very fitting. Vada, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer and I received a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma at 28, forty years younger than the majority of MM patients.

Playing football at Michigan and a freak diagnosis were not all we had in common. We both happened to have three kids, the oldest being a boy, followed by two daughters. I could not help but feel connected with him.

During the one and only conversation we had he stated that this was a battle he was not going to win. I really had a hard time hearing that. It's a reality with those taking on cancer...He knew his fate.

Last week Vada Murray passed away. Today as I attempted to give tribute to him and his family at UM's Relay for Life I broke out in tears for a man I hardly even know, but feel so close to. It hurts to think about his family right now.

My speech was focused on the Fight Back theme of Relay for Life. It was very fitting. Thinking of Vada makes me want to Fight Back. I have always just wanted to dominate, but now I also want to fight back for him and his family. I don't have a lot of words right now for what that means, just tons of emotion probably centered on feelings of injustice for what his family is having to go through.

For all those who can make it, there will be a memorial service this Thursday at 11:00am at Cliff Keen Arena.

Drug Free and why I can be an Idiot

I am coming back to life. Each day I feel better as my cough lessens. I must say I don't know if I would survive this world without the support of my family. Cassie and my mom were champs on being the voice of reason while my health was fleeting on Christmas Eve. I was pretty much an idiot in my response to seeking help. Cassie was very kind in her last post not to call me out too much. I still remember lying on the couch aching and burning up telling Cassie that all I needed was a cold shower and a nap and I would feel much better. Caregivers out there, you have a tough job if your patient is anything like me.

Why such an idiot? Don't you realize you have had roughly 15 months of treatment, two transplants and we're heading into cold and flu season? Cassie and I reviewed this question while I was in the hospital in order to have an action plan if my stubborn and ignorant personality comes out again while my body is crying for help. We've boiled down my naive and ignorant response as a result of years of intense physical training in sports; specifically as a Wolverine. It's not an acceptable excuse, but years of beating my body down to the point where it has zero say has definitely skewed my ability to answer the question, "How are you feeling?" We have noticed that as long as my pain or discomfort isn't extremely high, I tend to respond with I am doing fine.

Due to the recent bout with pneumonia and the flu, Cycle #6 has been derailed and I am drug free until we begin maintenance mid-January. I look forward to see how things go as we pull back the drugs and allow my bone marrow some rest from the beating.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year. Cheers and Domination in 2011. May it be a year of healing and great hope for us all!!!

-Phil

Michigan Men Dominating Cancer

Since my diagnosis in 2008, I have been made aware of other Michigan Football players that have been given the cancer card as well and it is always devastating to me when I get the news. I remain hopeful though, because from my own personal experience, the support of the Michigan Family goes deep and wide for these brothers which has been huge in my journey with Multiple Myeloma.

For example, when I was going through my second transplant, Troy Nienberg (PK, 01-04) would visit me every night in the hospital; sacrificing his evening. Although we competed at practice to be the starting kicker up until the day before the Washington game, we have been there for some serious and often tragic ups and downs. That's what it means to be Michigan. It includes things like integrity, consistency and reaches into the area of love and support for your brother and sister...because we are the Michgian faMily...Maize and Blue...through and through...till the end.

Vada Murray #27 - Lung Cancer

Jim Mandich #88 - Bile Duct Cancer

As someone in the fight, it also comforting to know that there are many Michigan Men who have already won the battle after being in the trenches a number of years ago. One of those people is none other than the new Athletic Director and former CEO of Dominoes, David Brandon. Dave has provided me with some encouraging words and just knowing that his family has been through a similar scare and come out the other side is comforting.

David Brandon #85 - Prostate Cancer

This week someone asked how long it took me to go public with my diagnosis. Honestly, there was a little fear that I would perceived as incapable of dominating my work with the new information, but I stopped the thought right there. If there is anything I have learned through dealing with Multiple Myeloma over the last two years is that opening up about what I am thinking and feeling to those around me has allowed me to make sense of this disease and come up with a plan to dominate each day. This may not work for everyone, but it has made a big difference for me. Living in fear is not an option; Dominating with faith, hope and love is.

Dominate another Day,

Phil

Off Week, but it's the Buckeyes!

Cycle #4 is now behind me! Wow, that was a heck-of-a-lot-of-therapy. I am getting used to the cadence of two weeks on and one week off. I am seeing no side affects and my labs are showing strong signs that my bone marrow is staying strong (i.e. platelets, RBC, WBC, ANC are at good levels). My M-spike is still holding at a 0.2 and we want to knock it down to 0.0.

We think a couple additional cycles and/or the maintenance therapy will get us there. I remain confident; especially with all the stories I am hearing from others that are hitting CR (Complete Response). Many thanks to Nick for teaching me the significance of CR and keeping it there. He is a big reason I am going for this "game winning field goal" approach to therapy. And I will be honest, aggressive treatment fits my dominate personality. Everyone should really work with a MM specialist to determine the best approach for them and know all their options and what the leading research is saying. In a lot of ways, I am still a "MM Dummy", although a little more educated thanks to the last year.

I have learned to love and appreciate the "off week". Typical and minor side affects (if any at the time) I am having will subside during this period and by the last day of my off week, I begin to feel normal again; meaning Sexy Dexy is no longer on the loose....or not as much. Okay, Cassie should verify that last sentence.

But let's be real people...this is truly NO OFF WEEK! This week is Michigan vs. Ohio State! It's actually the most intense week of the year! Not to mention we decided to cram in Thanksgiving as well. This is one of the greatest rivalries of all time! Back in 2002 I witnessed this rivalry as a player and now I see it a little differently. Both schools make each other better. I now view the tension between the two schools as something that brings us together for the better, not worse. And....

...Then there is Barb. Barb connected with me when her mom was first diagnosed in August of 2009. Barb is a Buckeye and lives down near Columbus of all places! She reached out to a Wolverine....so she gets the gold sticker. Barb has really taken a passion for dominating MM for everyone's benefit. Even a year ago she was throwing ideas at me on how we could work together to raise money to get research going faster. Barb put her words to work and this week she is hosting the 1st Annual UM/OSU DomiNation event, which is in Columbus this year. I will be there and so will another young MM Dominator who graduated from OSU, Matt Hare. Matt is also a great example of a person who has gone beyond the call to personally dominate MM, by raising money to help us Kick Cancer for good.

Here are the details for this Saturday's event if you live near Columbus and want to go!

The Dominate Cry Heard in front 113,000 in the Big House

Although the game was heart wrenching, the two minute timeout in the 1st Quarter was something I'll carry with me for the rest of the domination of Multiple Myeloma. I was very nervous and had no clue on how to present myself in front of 113,000 fans. And then....it happened (play video).

They mentioned the words Dominate Cancer and the animal within me just came out. I could not stop pumping my fist. The last two years of dominating MM with many years ahead just wanted out. I wanted everyone in that stadium to join in on the domiNation. I wanted in that moment to put an end to cancer and I felt like together, We Will Dominate Cancer. It was special.

The Big Day - What an Honor

I couldn't sleep last night and I don't think it had anything to do with the 20 mg of Dex. This morning I will be joining the Michigan Football team for their pre-game. Today Michigan takes on Michigan State, and it has been hyped to be one of the biggest games in last number of years, probably the biggest UM vs MSU game in decades.

Never would I have imaged being a Captain on the football team. As a kicker, I was a leader on and off the field with my work ethic and positive attitude, but that did get you out on the coin toss. Today I will be able to live that dream. Moreover, I will honored at the first time out of the first quarterer in front of the BIGGEST CROWD EVER to watch a College Football game. I expect that the stadium will hit close to 113,000....all of which will hear the words Multiple Myeloma at once!!!

So although this game is very significant for both teams on the field, it is very significant for Multiple Multiple Awareness. It will also fuel my family and I to continue to forward and dominate this disease. Above is a picture of me kicking off at home against MSU exactly 8 years ago. I won't be kicking off today, but I finally get to live my dream as a Michigan Captain. Thanks to the Athletic Department, coaching staff and Coach Carr for making this happen!

Together, We'll Dominate.

Go Blue!

The Kick Shirt - Unveiled!

Back in 2002 I went from being a goat to hero as it was framed by the ESPN football announcers as I connected on a 44 yd field goal as the time expired in my first ever start as a place kicker at the University of Michigan. The play to this day is simply known as "The Kick". It happened to be my first ever kick that I made in college. What people often forget (thankfully!!!) is before The Kick, there were two other kicks that I missed in the first half that would have cost us the game if it wasn't for one last second chance at redemption from 44 yards out.

That experience back in 2002 was a faint memory until I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a blood cancer) back in 2008. For a couple of weeks I was down and out. The darkness of a cancer diagnosis for a father of two little ones who were 2 and 6 months at the time seemed unbearable, and unfair at best. BUT, as I looked back at The Kick I started to realize that in that game, there was very little hope that I would ever make that prayer of a kick. Furthermore, it took the two missed kicks in the first half to even allow the game to come down to the opportunity for any chance at a last second heroic.

So looking back on The Kick, I knew I still had another game winner in me. I knew it was not going to be easy, but I knew that with the support of so many people, my experience and my faith, that I would get an opportunity to make another long shot field....I was aimed and poised to Kick Cancer! So that's what I am doing roughly two years later and now almost to the date one year into my treatment; which may be the most aggressive treatment ever experience at UMCCC given the amount of chemo and two stem cell transplants I endure this summer.

To commemorate the moment and to use it as a motivator to kick Multiple Myeloma for good, a graphic designer has graciously produced a shirt that will be released on Saturday as way to bring both the spectacular moment back in 2002 into a motivator for me and others as we push to dominate cancer. The shirt design is viewable on the Cancer Kicker Facebook page: http://facebook.com/cancerkicker

Quick Chemo Update: I am in my second week of my 2nd cycle of chemo. I am pretty exhausted this go around, but doing my best to keep up with everything go on.

Physical Change - 1 year later

I am coming up on one year of treatment which has included 7 cycles (5 months) of RVDD, two autologous stem cell transplants and now onto 4 cycles of RVD. My body has been put through straight hell, with my spirit very much still intact. Below is the picture Cassie and I took the first day of chemo. So much for just saying no to drugs! I have been saying YES for a while now.

One year of treatment combined with the decrease of my physical activity (i.e. not working out) has had significant affects on my body. First, I notice that things don't heal as quickly as they used to; although, maybe I just never paid attention to this sort of thing. In addition, my muscles have all but disappeared. I left Michigan Football in the greatest shape of my life. I was 210 lbs, I could bench press over 300 lbs and I could run a sub-5 minute mile pretty easily. Now I am 180 lbs dripping wet, I couldn't do 10 push-ups and walking a mile right now is a solid accomplishment.

But that's okay. Before I started treatment I trained and then ran in the Big House Big Heart 10K Run (here's that old blog post). It was my way of telling my body that I am still in control and I also wanted to get my body in the best possible shape before treatment. Well this year I am not able to run the 10k for health reasons, but Cassie, my mom and sisters are stepping up to run for me, along with a bunch of good friends. I did sign Ocean up for the fun run and I will walk it with him. It will be a special moment to be able to enter the Big House with him running by my side. Something that I will look forward to each year from here on out.

Next Steps:

• Now - 10/4 Two weeks off of chemo - hooray!
• 10/5 Start of Chemo Cycle #2
• 10/9 Michigan dominates MSU

I'll end with a photo of John (Navarre) and me celebrating after the Washington Kick. I started this treatment journey with the goal of attaining the same ending from that day (8/31/02). This picture is just a reminder of how sweet it is going to be when we get this disease out of my body and I can do 10 push-ups again!!!!

More domiNATION

Tomorrow marks the start of my consolidation therapy roughly 10 weeks after my second autologous bone marrow transplant. In Phil terms, we are starting more nuclear warfare on my bone marrow in hopes to rid any remaining Multiple Myeloma and knock this stuff so far into oblivion that it won't want to come back any time soon (and hopefully never). Apparently research is showing that maintenance therapy is helpful in driving a deeper response and longer remission.

The plan is to do max dosage of RVD for 4-8 cycles and eventually remove some of the drugs and lower the dosage. I think the long term schedule is TBD, but I think we will be keeping up some level of drugs (i.e. nuclear warfare) to present a hostile environment to ensure the Myeloma gets the message that it is NOT wanted back in my bone marrow. I am very excited about this approach because my body is recovering well from the summer's two transplants and I smell domiNATION.

Speaking of domiNATION, many people across the country have joined forces to help raise awareness and funds for MM research, none of which I knew prior to being thrust into the world of Myeloma. Just today some guy down in Ohio decided to run the Columbus Half Marathon in honor of me and to support the Cancer Kicker Foundation. Here's his blogpost about what he is doing if you happen to be in the area and want to help out. There are a few more domiNATION's that are being established in the South, West Coast and Midwest if you want to get involved. If you want to learn how to start your own, read how to do that right here:

• Miles4Myeloma by a daughter of a MM Patient. Follow Laura on Facebook as she attempts to run, ride walk over 1000 miles to raise over $1000 to dominate MM!
• The Southern Pearls are looking to kick cancer in the South! This is another daughter and caregiver of her mother who is dominating MM.
• It's official, the first domiNATION event is going to happen in the windy city of Chicago during Michigan Football's Big Ten Opener against Indiana! Check it out here!
• There are several other domiNATIONs underway that I will mention in a future blogposts!

Since it's inception just over a month ago, the domiNATION has raised over $10,000 to support the work being done by Dr. J at University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. J is committed to finding a cure for everyone diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I stand along side him and his staff in their efforts and applaud him for his commitment to me and everyone else that has joined the MM community.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you can do so by clicking here. 100% will fund MM Research. No operating overhead...yipee!

2nd Half Kickoff: Monday, June 21st, 4:30pm

For those who have been tuning in to the Dominate Army vs. Multiple Myeloma, the second half of the game will kickoff this coming Monday with high dose chemo followed by my second bone marrow transplant in less than 3 months. Here's me kicking off against Michigan State in 2002....I think the final score was A LOT to 3....advantage Michigan!

It's very fitting that this weekend I'll be up at Spartan Stadium watching the 2010 Michigan High School Football All-Star game. They will be interviewing me at halftime where I will get yet another chance to say Multiple Myeloma 27 times in front of a pretty large audience. For all those with MM, we need to continue to speak up and educate folks about the disease.

This week I was blessed with the opportunity to speak with both teams and their coaches about what it means to Dominate and how I have been able to turn life's obstacles into opportunity. Just standing next to these guys made me feel like a scrawny former kicker. After I am through SCT #2 I am going to hit the iron until you can't recognize me!

Channel 7

http://cancerkicker.org

http://dominategear.com

TEDx Talk Now Online

TEDxUofM 2010 :: Phillip Brabbs from TEDxUofM on Vimeo.

BMT? SCT? WTH?

An awesome new friend that I gained through this MM journey suggested that I explain what the crap a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is, commonly called a BMT or SCT. I often forget that people don't eat, breathe and live maroon ribbon disease like Cassie and I do, so I often assume that everyone understands what all this means. My bad.

The good and bad thing here is that I am a dummy when it comes to this stuff. Good because I will be able to explain things in simple terms. But bad because I probably misspeak 10-20% of the time so you may get some wrong information. There is a reason why we called our blog MM For Dummies and not MM for Really Smart people. If ONLY Cassie were blogging, we probably could have gone with the latter.

First, here is a simple timeline of the BMT activity:

• 3/16: NeoStar Catheter placement
  
• 3/17: Cytoxan - Chemo
• 3/18: Phil doesn't remember this day (thanks Ativan)
• 3/21: Daily neupogen shots begin
• 3/28: Last neupogen shot
• 3/29: Stem Cell Collection (my stem cells), also called apheresis
  
• 4/4: Christ is Risen, Hallelujah.
  
• 4/5: Receive Melphalan - Chemo
• 4/6: Phil checks into the hospital for a minimum of 15 days
• 4/10ish: Phil's cells die
• 4/10ish: Phil receives his Stem Cells back
• 4/11+: Phil recovers until Phil is Risen, Hallelujah.
  
• 2 months later (Take 2): Phil goes through this process again starting with Melphalan.
  

So what is a BMT and what will recovery look like? For most, the bone marrow transplant will take place only once and if they slip out of remission five years down the road they may go for a second. In my case and for probably 99% of the folks seen down at UAMS, we will be doing a tandem (back to back) transplant, roughly 60 days apart.

Here's how I describe the process for my autologous (my own stem cells) transplant/s. A BMT or SCT is not a surgery, though that seems to be a common misconception. They give me a nasty drug that I just learned is mainline therapy for fighting breast cancer, they start shooting me up with a crazy drug/protein that pump fakes the body out to produce an overabundance of stem cells and pushes the excess into my blood stream, they connect me to a machine where they pull blood out and dump it back into me all while collecting about 6 million of those baby stem cells, they give me the big gun chemo to kill everything and admit me the next day into UMHS, my old under-performing cells get dominated in roughly five days, they give me back a bag or two of my baby stem cells who have missed me, my counts start to return to safe levels during my two week stay in the hospital and they eventually kick me out and tell me to return home and live in a bubble now that I will essentially have no immune system, but hopefully also no cancer and lastly, if that wasn't fun enough the first time, let's do it again to complete the tandem. The End.

So now that folks understand that I am NOT about to undergo a surgery, the next question is what does the recovery timeline look like? First, for a single transplant, I typically hear that the majority of people are out of work for 3-6 months, closer to 6 although the line of work and how you feel are trump cards. For me, expect a six month recovery with a tandem..which of course will be subject to change based on whether I complete a tandem and how my body responds to the above process. My energy levels should be shot for a while and since I will be rebuilding an immune system and will be extremely susceptible to the most innocuous of germs , I will be chillin' like a villain in my house for a long while, trying to limit my exposure to infections that would send me back to the hospital. I hope to return from the ashes just in time for the 2010 Michigan Football season and the Big House Big Heart Run I ran last year.

So was that helpful? MM experts....feel free to humble me with correction where I have mis-spoken. I am new to all of this... -Phil

And here's Cassie's edit to Phil's original post:
To keep it even simpler, I'd just say:
1. They give you drugs to make your marrow over-produce stem cells and push them into your blood.
2. They pull your blood-and-stem-cells out, collecting the stem cells and replacing the blood. (A simple and painless but time-consuming process.)
3. They give you high dose chemo to kill everything.
4. They give you back your stem cells, which will graft back into your marrow, creating a new immune system over the next few months.

Chemo...No more

Tonight was my last night of chemo since I started 147 days ago (10/6/09). The anticipated four cycles turned to seven and I am happy to move on. The results have been strong to quite strong, and I am ready to nail down this bone marrow transplant.

For old time sake I decided to go with a video blog....even with this cold that is stealing my voice:

4 months later...

Today marks 4 months since I started chemotherapy in preparation for a stem cell transplant or two where I will be using my own cells. Just to recap, here's a list of what my body has endured over this time:

• 6 Doxil Infusions
• 23 Velcade Infusions
• 76 25mg doses of Revlimid
• 30 20mg doses of Dexamethasone
• 16 10mg does of Dexammethasone

I don't have any earth shattering wisdom quite yet, but jotted below are some quick thoughts on what I have found helpful over the last four months:

• Lean on the MM blog-o-sphere: Connect with folks who are blogging about their MM experience. These people have been an amazing network of support for us and I hope one day to meet them all in person.
• Add to the Conversation: Start blogging your journey or that of your loved one who has MM. This has helped me connect with myself, family and friends all awhile leaving a trail of information for others to be enlightened, inspired and hopefully converted to Michigan Football fans. And if you need help setting up a blog, just send me a comment.
• Side Effects: Know what they are, but understand that they will not last forever. A couple of my side effects took me to the ER/Urgent Care 3 times in my first two cycles! Four cycles later there has been no signs of these issues.
• Worse may be better: The worse I have felt, the better response my cancer was having to the drugs. Try to find the good in the worst of circumstances.....or just laugh.
• Partner with your Doctor: We are all in this together, especially the patient and the medical staff. I think having a team environment in this journey is critical. I wish this disease had a start and finish date, but we're not there yet. Therefore, we all need to push forward together.

Four months from now I hope to have dominated my first stem cell transplant with no signs of M-protein. I also hope to have been able to sit back and relax for the first time in my entire life. We'll see....

I am a Shy Guy...really.

Michigan Football and Multiple Myeloma must be a match made in heaven because the combination is opening a lot of doors to engage folks in my journey with cancer. Ever since I was young I hated getting called on in class to give an answer. For me, giving a book report was worse than receiving a spanking from my father. If you know me, you know my face turns red if you just say my name. I blush like none other. I find it ironic that I ended up being a kicker because I really don't like that much attention...especially 110,000 fans in the Big House watching your every move.



The latest happenings include an interview for the U of M Student Athlete magazine, tomorrow I will be speaking at a Superbowl Breakfast where last year there were over 300 people and next week I will be interviewed by AnnArbor.com. I will also be working with the local chapter of LLS as their Honorary Chair for Light The Night Walk which will be on October 2nd.

I am so thankful for these opportunities and that I have the energy to go out and spread the word about Multiple Myeloma. In 2010 alone there will be 35,000 people diagnosed.

We all have a platform of some kind and I encourage you all to continue to speak up! There's a lot of great work being done in the area of Multiple Myeloma research, but we are still a ways off and need much more support. Let's continue to dominate together!

P.S. I completed my last Velcade infusion for Cycle #6 this morning. I forget to even mention all the crazy chemo my body is absorbing...which is definitely a good thing! Oh...and I just ran another 3 miles. No funk this time...I am just crazy. Here's the end result:

Blessed Amidst a Curse

I'll try to tone down the deep reflection, but I am blown away by how such a horrific diagnosis is paving way for new opportunities in the thick of the storm. Tonight I will be sharing my journey of Faith, Football and Cancer with the Michigan Football team. All of this while I am on chemo heading into a stem cell transplant...craziness...

Those who follow college football know that my Wolverines have been on a very challenging journey as well. There is so much we can all learn in our darkest moments whether a loss to Appalachian State or a cancer diagnosis. Sometimes the forest needs to burn a little longer so a new forest can be raised from the ashes.

I don't know how 2010 is going to unfold for my personal health, nor the health of my beloved football program, but I think we all need to keep the faith and continue to trust.

Cycle #4: Test Results are in!

No graphs this time, just more good news. Of the numbers we are tracking and that are closely tied to MM getting dominated, all are trending down...which is the direction we want them to go!

The M-protein is down to 0.8 (3.0 to 1.9 to 1.2 to 1.0, now 0.8). If it falls another half a point I will be in Very Good Partial Response (VGPR), which would be outstanding heading into my first, of possibly two transplants. 

For those MM enthusiasts out there:

• IgG continues to drop, it's now 1120 (was 1350)
  
• Kappa free light was 20.1, now 10.6. The K/L ratio went from 100 to 50.
• Total Protein is 6.6...Perfect! (Was 8.2 at diagnosis which tipped off my hematologist)

People continue to ask how the treatment is going and I can honestly say that going through hell in cycles #1 and #2...read the old posts if you don't remember, has made Cycle #3 and #4 seem like cake. I am now onto #5, which seems to be following suit! 

So what does Phil want to happen next? 

1. I want to see my M-protein to continue to get dominated. What would make me REALLY HAPPY is to see it at 0.3 after chemo cycle #5, but I would probably be pumped to see it at 0.5 as well. Those numbers would encourage me to go after another round of chemo to try to knock this thing out of the park even before my first transplant.
2. I want to see my kappa to continue to drop. These light chains dominate the kidneys and are a key indicator on how the disease is doing. The chemo is working a number of the kappa, so I just ask that it keep receiving the domination!
3. I want to have peace about when to start my first transplant and peace about whether or not to do a second one. There are financial ramifications to two transplants which don't need much discussion on our blog, but just a reality that we can't avoid. One important note is that it seems that both my oncologist and BMT doc may agree to harvest and collect my stem cells after Cycle #5. I still have to do a little more research to understand whether it's better to reduce the M-protein before collection or not. Unfortunately the chemo bombs affect the good bone marrow too, so the docs want to make sure they get enough collection for two transplants. Being young, I don't think that will be a problem and I still need to trend my blood counts (white, red, platelets) to verify that my counts haven't really gone down much during treatment. 
4. I want my Wolverines to compete for a Big Ten Championship again.

Thanks everyone for the prayer, support and such kind words! There's nothing but good news following Cycle #4 and we expect in three weeks when sharing results from Cycle #5 it will be nothing but the same.

More Press for Multiple Myeloma Awareness! Go Blue!!

Blessings on Ann Arbor...

Ever since my diagnosis I continue to receive emails, facebook messages, phone calls, cards and letters from the Michigan Faithful. Just yesterday the most popular U of M sports Magazine, The Wolverine, posted an interview of me talking about my battle with cancer. Read it here: Former Kicker Brabbs Valiantly Battling Cancer

I am so thankful for having played football at the best institution both athletically and academically. The education has provided me opportunities to be on the teams of some of the greatest and fastest growing companies in the world, who happen to make some of the most money (measured in billions). My gridiron experience which was spent mostly at Schembechler Hall with grueling workouts that made grown men cry and puke a lot has engrained in me an intensity so deep within that quitting is not an option (Thanks Mike!).



And now...I am thank for the medical team that is not just behind me, but leading the way in kicking my Myeloma for many years to come and committed to finding a cure. I hope eventually I can do an interview of the medical staff so you can put a face to their names, but they will probably be too busy in clinic working with patients or on a computer trending numbers to understand their new findings. That's the type of staff you want to work with.....

You see, the reason my family and I moved back to Ann Arbor (it wasn't the weather!) was to return to a church that we loved during my college days and to be closer to our immediate family. Almost 3 years later I have found a growing community of love and generosity here in Ann Arbor and now I can thank God for having bigger reasons for placing us back in A2 than I would have ever imagined.

If you missed any of the other articles, here they are:

• Michigan Daily #1
• Michigan Daily #2
• Midland Daily News
• Saginaw News
• WTKA Radio Interview

Two Months of our Lives...Gone

We just eclipsed the two month mark since I started my chemotherapy in route to kicking Multiple Myeloma (not Melanoma)for good. I also finished up Chemo Cycle #3 today and I am still doing great since the bout with projectile vomiting.

I am thinking it's time the Cassie and Phil Plus Cancer Video Blog series return tonight (click here to watch one of the first episodes back in October)....does anyone else agree? (Amy L. - you owe me a comment and I think I owe you four more bracelets).

Also, leave a comment on when you think I should unveil my dyed hair:

(1) After Christmas...idoit! But before New Year's.

(2) Dude, you should totally rock it for New Year's

(3) What?!?! I didn't know you were going to dye your hair!

(4) If you were tough you would just stop talking about it and do it now.

Multiple Myeloma for Dummies Helps Build Awareness in Every U.S. State and 50 Countries Since Phil started chemo only 2 Months Ago. Here are some of the numbers:

• 14,688 visits to MM For Dummies Blog
• Over 200 visits per day, 30% being New Visitors
• Distributed over 1,500 Cancer Kicker Bracelets (still some available)
• 5 News Articles & Some Air Time at WTKA

Check out below to see just where the traffic is coming from: