Exactly one year ago today, we met Brian Rose, a 32-year old athlete and baseball coach. He walked into our office less than a week after he heard the words: Stage 4 Melanoma, ready to hear about a new project we were working on for our friends at LIVESTRONG. LIVESTRONG was building a new Cancer Navigation Center at their headquarters and wanted to tell the story of their services by telling the story of someone using those services. Enter Brian Rose. A week later, he's in the hot seat, as we like to call it, sharing his story.
We've always felt very lucky that people were willing to share their stories with us. But, in this situation, we were going way beyond the chair. We were given the opportunity to be a part of Brian's life, to get dirty, to show people what it's really like to fight like hell. Brian immediately saw the potential impact and importance of sharing his story in this way and gave us complete access.
After our first interview, we sent him home with a Flip cam to capture testimonials and day-in-the-life stuff when we weren't around...a video diary if you will. Brian was gung-ho and no holds barred from the beginning, even taking us right up to the door of the sperm bank. Don't worry, we didn't go inside. I'm just trying to make a point here, people. This man let us in!
Between December and March, we went to MD Anderson with Brian four times. We covered it all - chemotherapy, CT scans, doctors appointments, gamma knife surgeries, halo installations. I very clearly remember leaving Austin at 4:30am on Tuesday, March 8th for Houston. Brian was getting scans that morning and then meeting with his doctor later that afternoon to get his results. He had been through four rounds of excruciating bio-chemo treatments. This was when we found out if it was working. I was nervous. It was going to be a big day. If it was working, Brian checked in for more chemo. If it wasn't, no more chemo and on to the next thing.
We rolled into Houston right in time for 8am traffic, eventually made it to MD Anderson where we hooked up with Brian and Lupe (his girlfriend). They were waiting to go in for his scans. Lots of waiting when you have cancer. We knocked that out, grabbed lunch together and then made our way to the doctor's appointment. The nurse ushered us into the room. We were squeezed in there - me, Nathan (our DP), Lupe, and Brian....waiting. I sat there looking at these two amazing people who had become dear friends, who didn't deserve to be in this situation, wishing I could make it all better. The doctor came in immediately, which queued Brian that something was up. We learned that his tumors weren't getting any smaller and there was a new lesion on his brain. The chemo was keeping the cancer it bay but had stopped working. I remember repeating "do not cry, do not cry, do not cry" in my head over and over. I wanted to be strong for Brian and Lupe first, professional second. These two had become family and we were seriously in the fight with them at this point.
What I liked about Brian's doctor, other than the fact that he let us film all of this, was that he was a straight shooter and came to the table with a backup plan. I guess you have to when you're in the cancer business. He already had Brian enrolled in a clinical trial that had been showing great results for Brian's strain of melanoma. So, they lovingly punted him to Los Angeles, where he would start the drug trial, which he had an amazing response to. Read: his tumors shrunk by almost 30% in four months of this protocol! And, there was such success with the clinical trial overall that the drug was recently approved by the FDA. This is great news for people affected by melanoma.
Fast-forward to April, Brian returns to coaching. Whoop! We were lucky enough to capture his first day back on the job in Wichita and got some great footage of Brian doing his thing. Since then, Brian had a great season. Here's a quick rundown - his baseball team, the Wichita Wingnuts, went to the playoffs, he got engaged to the lovely Lupe, and he continued to rock the clinical trials. Now, Brian is back in Austin and badder than ever. This weekend, he continues his fight with a 20-mile ride in Dripping Springs as part of the LIVESTRONG Challenge. We'll be out there cheering him on and, of course, the camera will be rolling. Sidebar: Brian literally started riding less than a month ago, so this is huge.
We couldn't be more proud of and inspired by Brian. He's had a pretty tremendous impact on us and we all feel truly lucky to have him and Lupe in our lives. I think it's safe to say we look at the world a little differently because of him. And to be true to Brian, be sure to wear your sunscreen.
How can you support Brian you ask?
1. Donate in Brian's honor
2. Learn more about Brian's fight on his website How's Brian
3. Buy a Fight Like Hell t-shirt to help cover Brian's medical expenses.
4. Watch his story
Leave a Comment