Home from London and Ready for the Next Chapter!

Friday, August 14th

We are home from London, and I have so much good news to share!

After spending nearly three weeks in the UK, Braelyn has officially completed all three induction doses of her personalized DCVax vaccine.

She received her vaccines on July 22nd, July 29th, and August 5th—and perhaps one of the most remarkable things about this treatment is how well she tolerated it.

Three vaccines. No side effects.

After everything her body has endured over the past three years—multiple brain surgeries, infections, medications, and radiation—it was almost surreal to watch her receive each DCvax injection and then simply go on with her day.

Of course, there was nothing "simple" about creating those injections. Each vaccine was individually manufactured from Braelyn's own tumor antigens and immune cells. Her dendritic cells were essentially educated to recognize the unique characteristics of her tumor so they can help teach the rest of her immune system what to look for.

And now those newly educated immune cells are inside her doing the job we traveled 4,000 miles for them to do: Find the cancer. Recognize it. And help her immune system destroy it.

The Next Piece of the Puzzle: Next week, we add another part of Braelyn's treatment strategy: Keytruda (pembrolizumab). One way to think about it is that DCvax helps show the immune system what to attack, while Keytruda is a checkpoint inhibitor that helps take the brakes off the immune system, potentially allowing activated T cells to better attack cancer cells. Our hope is that these treatments will work together to help Braelyn's immune system find and eliminate every last tumor cell that may remain.

After the three induction doses of DCvax, we will also return to London for additional booster vaccines over the coming months, followed by maintenance doses.

And Braelyn Is Doing SO Well

Since coming home, she seems to be feeling better and stronger every day.

Her endurance, which was significantly affected by radiation, is getting closer and closer to normal. Her speech continues to improve, and we continue to see progress neurologically. Recovery has been slow, but when I look back at where she was following her March brain surgery compared with where she is today, the progress is incredible.

And there's another milestone that may seem small compared with everything else—but it certainly doesn't feel small to a 19-year-old girl. Braelyn has hair again!

She recently received her beautiful new long, blonde wig, and she absolutely loves it. Even more exciting, we are seeing definite hair growth across the areas where she lost her hair from radiation. We were warned that some of that hair loss could potentially be permanent, so seeing it begin to grow back has been incredibly encouraging. She feels pretty. She feels confident. And most importantly, she is becoming more and more like the fun, silly, sarcastic Braelyn we know and love.

And Monday... She Starts College! This one makes me emotional.

On Monday, she'll begin online classes while she continues recovering and receiving treatment. We recently met with Student Services to put accommodations in place to help with her speech and language challenges and the fact that her dominant right hand is still not functional. Technology will help with note-taking, reading, and test-taking, and she'll receive additional processing time when she needs it.

Three years ago, cancer interrupted her teenage years. This year, despite everything cancer has thrown at her, she's going to college.

There is still healing ahead. There are still treatments ahead. There are still trips to London ahead. But right now, Braelyn is living her life while she fights for it.

Please Keep Praying

We would be so grateful for continued prayers for:

• A powerful and lasting immune response from DCvax and Keytruda

• Continued healing of Braelyn's speech, right hand, and neurological function

• A wonderful and successful start to college

• Safe travels and successful DCvax boosters as we continue this journey

Thank you to everyone who has prayed, donated, shared Braelyn's story, sent cards and messages, and helped our family reach this point.

There were many moments over the last three years when the future felt terrifyingly uncertain.

Today, Braelyn is home. She's getting stronger. She's laughing. She's wearing her beautiful new hair. She's preparing for college.

And somewhere inside her, an army of immune cells now has a picture of the enemy.

Keep going, Braelyn.

With love and gratitude,

Mandy

Charlie James, from Charlie James Show on The WYRD FM interviewed Mandy about Cure Not Covered and shared about the benefit concert on Sunday, Nov. 9th from 2-4 PM at Central Roller Mills. Listen here!

Fox Carolina 21's Tori Carmen interviews Mandy about the Day of Prayer for Braelyn! Watch the video here!