Family learns life lessons through illnesses

By BRETT DUNLAP, bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — For Mary Anderson, there is nothing more important than family.

Although the 56-year-old Parkersburg resident has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has been receiving treatments for it, she is still committed to being there for her 6-year-old grandson, Brandyn Moyers, as he battled his own medical problems, said Ericka Moyers, Anderson’s daughter and Brandyn’s mother.

At 9-months-old, Brandyn was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, called a pilocytic astrocytoma. It is a slow growing tumor, but it had continued to have accelerated growth.

Although the tumor never became cancerous, Ericka said it was in a bad area, pushing down on Brandyn’s brain stem.

He had the first of two craniotomy operations at Children’s Hospital in Columbus when he was 10 months old in July 2002.

At age 3, he had to undergo a year of chemotherapy in 2004 and he eventually had to have the second craniotomy operation in January 2007 at Children’s Hospital.

He also went through six weeks of pinpoint radiation therapy at the Mid-West Proton Radiotherapy Institute in Bloomington, Ind., in July and August 2007. He has regular MRI appointments every three months.

Through it all, Anderson was there for her daughter and grandson, even leaving the rest of the family behind and moving to Indiana for seven weeks while Brandyn went through his radiation treatments.

‘‘My mom had been there through every appointment and every chemo treatment,’’ Ericka said. ‘‘She had really been our backbone through all of this.’’

However, Anderson herself was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2007. Her cancer was a hormone-fed form of the disease, Ericka said, adding her mother had to be put on a hormone blocker which was a form of chemo treatment. Due to dense tissue, Anderson’s standard mammogram did not catch the growth.

They were told a digital mammogram might have been able to help doctors diagnose it sooner. However, local health care providers are still working to bring digital mammograms locally.

She underwent a number of other scans and doctors removed a number of her lymph nodes and tested them.

‘‘Many came back cancerous,’’ Ericka said. ‘‘They decided against the masectomy, because the cancer had spread, but it is not in any vital organs. They did radiation therapy on her spine, because she had a tumor there.

‘‘She also went through many weeks of radiation therapy on her skull.’’

Despite all of this, Anderson still made it a point to help out and make it to most of Brandyn’s various medical appointments, even if she was having pain herself on a particular day. Ericka remembers only one appointment where her mother was unable to make it.

‘‘If she had it her way, she wanted to reschedule what was going on with herself and go with me,’’ Ericka said. ‘‘That is just the kind of woman she is. She is very strong-willed and has a lot of will power. She will put herself aside just to be there for her family or anyone she is close to.

‘‘It just shows how special she is by doing all of this for us. That is a grandma for you. She wouldn’t consider herself a super-mom or a super-grandma, but she is.’’

With her own treatment planned out, Anderson talked with her grandson about what was going to happen.

‘‘She told him that she was going to have something like the radiation treatment he had,’’ Ericka said. ‘‘She told him she had a boo-boo just like he had, but it was in a different place than his. He totally understood it.’’

Ericka said the radiation treatment her son underwent seems to be working as the tumor growth appears to be shrinking. Her mother has continued to be treated and they are awaiting the results of some scans she had done. Although Anderson has been tired and is having back pain, she is in good spirits and happy to still be here.

‘‘Without that radiation therapy, I really don’t know where my son would be,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t know where we would be either without my mother, because she really has been our backbone.

‘‘She is a very special woman who has always been there for people no matter what they are going through.’’

A benefit is being planned to help her parents with their medical expenses with a spaghetti dinner planned for Aug. 9 at the Lubeck Civic Center.

Through it all, Ericka has learned from her mother how to be strong and to have faith.

‘‘I learned that everything will work out,’’ she said. ‘‘You just have to have the faith to be strong and be strong for your family.

‘‘There is just no being weak at all.’’

Mother’s Day has taken on a new significance for Ericka as she is striving to be healthier for her husband and two sons.

‘‘I am thanking God I have my husband and our two boys,’’ she said. ‘‘I will never take anything for granted with them.

‘‘That is why I am starting my complete health check-ups, because my mom has inspired me to want to lose weight and being healthier for my boys. I will try to be there for them every minute I can be.’’