Nedstat Counter Brandon's Story
In Memory Of My Son

THOMAS BRANDON HOWELL

My son Brandon was born on December 7th,1989. He passed away at the age of eight years old on June 14th, 1998.

Brandon was an extremly smart child for his age. Sometimes it was easy to forget he was so young because of the way he could hold conversations about things only adults would discuss. I truly believe he would have grown up to be a successful man.

But Brandon was still a fun loving kid. He loved the Atlanta Braves and looked forward to us going to his first game this summer. Unfortunately, his illness prevented us from doing so.

Brandon began feeling bad towards the end of May. He became very tired and started complaining of headaches. After a couple of trips to the emergency room, he was diagnosed with a form of brain cancer. It was a Medulloblastoma.

Brandons intelligence made this ordeal even harder to deal with. Even though me and his mother tried to keep him from knowing just how sick he really was, he knew. He kept holding my hand and telling me to pray for him outloud because he said he knew he was going to die. I tried to assure him he wasn't. I would leave the room, go to the parking garage and cry.

Brandon went into surgery to correct a problem with the drain they had put in his brain. It was supposed to be somewhat routine. Brandon never woke up from the surgery. He was pronounced brain dead.

After a terrible shock like this, I was left with a huge decision to make. He was on life support and I was told there was no chance he would ever live. I made the doctors monitor his brain for the next day. He was dying a slow death. I was afraid he might be feeling pain or hearing everyone talking about him. I was assured again that he wasn't.

After praying alot, I made the decision.

The doctor cleared the room. Me and his mom came in and picked him up and layed him accross us. We talked to him and told him we loved him. The doctor turned off the heart monitor machine so we wouldn't have to hear the beeps quit on their own. They would monitor his heart from another room. They unhooked the life support and left.

While holding him and lookng into his eyes, Brandon died. In two minutes, all the future held for him was gone. I cannot look forward to seeing him grow up, graduate from school, getting married and having kids of his own.

I will never be the same. Not a minute goes by that I do not think of him. I wish I would have gotten sick and died, not him.

Brandon, I love and miss you!

Dad




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