Chad Brendel broke the news this evening about his wife, Kelly, being diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma at 39 years old.

The family is asking for financial assistance with their expenses. I thought it would be a good idea to post the link here to their GoFundMe page. There is already a large Twitter campaign between both UC and XU fan pages to spread the word. Very classy move by BarstoolXU.

Link

God bless you Chad and Kelly. We have some Bearcats here recently pass on. I am going to pray for this family, hope you can also.

(11-14-2017 10:43 PM)TubaCat Wrote:  Chad Brendel broke the news this evening about his wife, Kelly, being diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma at 39 years old.

The family is asking for financial assistance with their expenses. I thought it would be a good idea to post the link here to their GoFundMe page. There is already a large Twitter campaign between both UC and XU fan pages to spread the word. Very classy move by BarstoolXU.

Link

Thank you for posting this. All the best to Kelly, Chad and the Brendels.

Sending thoughts and prayers to the Brendel family!

Incredibly sad to hear. I’ll happily donate.

Thank you guys so much. As the folks here that know us will attest, Kelly is a freaking saint for putting up with me over the past 17 years. What she is going through is soul crushing, but the support from our UC family and beyond has been uplifting. If you can help, thank you so much. If not, please share if you can. She deserves it more than I can ever express...

Donated and shared...I, like many others on here know all too well the effect cancer can have on a family unit and I'm keeping you all in my thoughts.

If she's half as stubborn as you are she's got this beat already!

Bless you all; fight the good fight Kelly.

Oh Chad, I am so saddened to hear this. My thoughts and prayers to your wife, to you and your children. Will be donating today.

Sad. Very familiar as my wife is a 2 time melanoma survivor. The key is early detection via an annual physical that includes a full body skin exam.

At Stage IIIA, the survival rates slightly increase to 78 percent for 5 years and 68 percent at 10 years, notes the ACA. For Stage IIIB, the 5-year survival rates decrease to 59 percent, and the 10-year survival rate is 43 percent. Stage IIIC has a 5-year survival rate of 40 percent and a 10-year survival rate of 24 percent.

Everyone can help by being aware.

Signs of melanoma include new spots on the skin, or a change in size, shape or color of an existing mole. The ABCDE method may help you determine if an abnormal skin growth may be melanoma:
Asymmetry: The mole has an irregular shape.
Border: The edge is not smooth, but irregular or notched.
Color: The mole has uneven shading or dark spots.
Diameter: The spot is larger than the size of a pencil eraser.
Evolving or Elevation: The spot is changing in size, shape or texture.

The only way to be sure if a mole is melanoma is to have it examined by a doctor.

Other melanoma symptoms may include:
Sores that do not heal
Pigment, redness or swelling that spreads outside the border of a spot to the surrounding skin
Itchiness, tenderness or pain
Changes in texture, or scales, oozing or bleeding from an existing mole
Blurry vision or partial loss of sight, or dark spots in the iris

And never use Tanning Beds! I had two good friends who are dermatologist and they hate Tanning Beds. There point is natural sun gives us enough business we don't need Tanning Beds!

Just donated.

Everyone on here that enjoys hours of entertainment for free should try to make a donation to whatever level is within their means.

Prayers for God's healing hands.

So sorry to hear this news...

Chad, I have never met you in person, but I know you come over here every so often. Please know that I hold you both in my prayers and hope for nothing for the best for you!

Bearcats stand together.

Chad my heart goes out to your wife and you and family as my wife has had to have a double mastectomy and a total hysterectomy because of cancer. My prayers for her and you and the family. No matter what you make time for her thru all this. She will beat this.

(11-15-2017 10:38 AM)Ragpicker Wrote:  Just donated.

Everyone on here that enjoys hours of entertainment for free should try to make a donation to whatever level is within their means.

Prayers for God's healing hands.

Agreed. Chad’s a good dude and he deserves our support in this time of need.

I don't know Chad but I will remember to keep his wife and family in my prayers.

just donated, hang in there chad. Your family is in our thoughts.

For anyone not familiar with the diagnosis, myeloma is a plasma cell dyscrasia. Those are the white blood cells that produce antibodies. Myeloma often produces a large volume of dysfunctional pieces of antibodies, small enough to get filtered by the kidneys and cause problems when they get concentrated there. Sometimes the kidneys can recover once the circulating levels of the protein are closer to normal. The proliferating cells tend to cluster in the bone marrow, hence the bone pain. New treatments are coming out all the time, and many of the current ones are very effective at keeping it controlled, but not cured. As it is part of the immune system, many of the treatments are similar to what is used in preventing or treating transplant rejection, by suppressing the immune system, as opposed to overtly toxic chemotherapy.

Prayers to Chad and his family.

Keeping Chad and his family in my prayers! Thanks for posting the link Tuba.