Stories from Scott 2
Your story matters. You matter.
March 10, 2016
SMS student remains positive, strong despite cancer diagnosis
Taking each day as it comes, Bree Brown and her family have spent the last 85 days working through new challenges, new emotions, and new ways of living.
“We make everything day-by-day,” said Jennifer Brown, Bree’s mother. “We’re [85] days into this. Sometimes, it feels like we’ve been only a couple of days.”
Eighty-five days ago, just one month before Bree Brown’s 13th birthday, she woke up in pain that she initially shrugged off as the way she slept the night before. But as the day progressed, the pain turned out to be more than just sleeping in an awkward position. This pain was radiating around to her abdomen and could not be diminished by walking or stretching, so her parents took her the emergency room at Floyd Memorial Hospital.
“It was Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Bailen’s game [Bree’s brother], and she couldn’t sit on the bleachers,” Jennifer Brown said.
Bree Brown had a CT scan at the emergency room that night. She walked in thinking the pain was from muscle and nerve pain, but she walked out finding out that she had tumors on her hip and spine.
“They were 99 percent sure it was cancer,” Jennifer Brown said.
Weeks before going to the emergency department that night, Bree Brown had been in pain from time to time. Because Brown has a love of dance and enjoys jumping on the family’s trampoline, her doctors believed the pain stemmed from when Brown fell in the kitchen practicing dance moves. But, the hip pain came with have occasional low-grade fevers, so the doctors had some additional laboratory and x-rays done to help make a diagnosis.
As a couple of months passed by with laboratory and x-ray results coming back normal, Brown continued to have more bone pain and began losing weight. The doctors diagnosed her with piriformis syndrome, where the muscle in the buttocks aggravates sciatic nerve in the lower back. Brown had to go to physical therapy and do some stretching activities to help alleviate the pain.
“Piriformis syndrome is very similar to the cancer,” Jennifer Brown said.
Three days after going to the emergency room that Thanksgiving weekend, Bree Brown was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, stage four.
Ewing sarcoma, a type of cancerous tumor that appears in the bones or in the tissue around the bones, is the second most common type of bone cancer in children. However, Ewing sarcoma is still very rare as only 200 children and young adults are diagnosed each year in the United States, according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Six days after her diagnosis, Brown began chemotherapy. She will continue to have chemotherapy and radiation treatments for several weeks. The treatments ravage the body in order to destroy the fast-growing cancerous cells, leaving her normal, healthy cells damaged. The side effects can result in mouth sores, nausea, fatigue, hair loss, and anemia — just to name a few.
“We remain positive and strong,” Jennifer Brown said.
Since her diagnosis, Bree Brown receives inpatient chemotherapy every other week. During the week of Christmas and her 13th birthday, she received a cycle of the chemotherapy drugs while in the hospital for the holidays. While the medication waged a toll on Brown’s body, her spirits were lifted when Academy Award-winning actress and Louisville native Jennifer Lawrence visited Kosair Children’s Hospital, where Brown was receiving treatment. Lawrence stopped by Brown’s room and signed a few autographs and posed for a picture with Brown.
“[Bree] was really excited about that,” Jennifer Brown said. “It was the only good day she had at the hospital. She was really sick.”
Along with the chemotherapy, the doctors performed a stem cell harvest on Brown in order to save her stem cells in case she needs them in the future.
“Should her cancer not respond to chemo or return later, this will enable them to safely give her higher doses of chemo. Higher doses of chemo could potentially deplete her white blood cells,” Jennifer Brown said. “If that happened, they could transplant her own white blood cells. It’s almost like an insurance policy.”
In addition to the chemotherapy treatments and stem cell harvest, Bree Brown will travel to Texas to meet with a surgeon to see if possible remove the tumors.
“The only surefire way to beat it is to remove it,” Jennifer Brown said.
Bree Brown and her mother will spend three to four weeks in Texas in hopes of reducing the risk of recurrence through surgery. If recurrence occurs, the survival rate significantly diminishes.
With a 15-hour, 1,000-mile trip to Texas and a stay for a few weeks, the trip comes as a costly expense to the family. The family only has one income as Jennifer Brown had to take unpaid leave from her job in order to help care for Bree Brown. They will use some of the money raised online and through fundraisers to help offset the costs of meals, fuel, accommodations, and medications.
“The community has been incredibly supportive. We’ve had so many people reach out over the past couple of months wanting to help in any way possible whether it be a prayer, hug, chemo care package, gift card or monetary contribution,” Jennifer Brown said. “These gifts have been extremely helpful as I am off on an unpaid leave right now. It’s help offset the loss of income and enable us to provide for Bree. We know we are not alone in this journey.”
Through all the challenges, emotions, and adjustments, Bree Brown and her family have found support and solace in her school and in her community.
“The school district has been excellent! I cannot say enough good things about SCSD2. Bree loves school. I knew when she was diagnosed that she would be devastated about not being able to go to school anymore and she was,” Jennifer Brown said. “I can remember calling Ms. Nass from the hospital, in tears and feeling hopeless. She comforted me and assured me they would help Bree get through this difficult time. Mrs. Lohr and Mrs. Mullins come out to the house to do home instruction with Bree. They are very flexible."
“The school district has been equally supportive with Bree’s older brother, Bailen. He’s a freshman. The teachers worked with Bailen on catching up his work. The basketball team offered tremendous support to both Bailen and our entire family.”
At Scottsburg Middle School, Bree Brown’s seventh-grade classmates and other students have helped raise money for the family through the Bows for Bree campaign. Students bought purple and white polka-dot hair bows in honor of Bree and snapped a few pictures to send to her. They also created a card quilt, sold T-shirts, sent in care packages, and made videos to show their support.
“The middle school created special videos for Bree at Christmas time wishing her a Merry Christmas and a happy 13th birthday too! That really lightened her mood because we were in the hospital over Christmas and she was very sick from the chemo,” Jennifer Brown said. “Numerous clubs/departments have collected money for her including student council, the girls basketball team, the choir, art club, and the boys high school basketball team.”
For Bree Brown’s 13th birthday, the students at SMS and people from all over the United States and the world sent Brown birthday cards in the mail. While she was not feeling well after the most recent round of chemotherapy, Brown was able to go through the cards sent to her.
“It perks her up. She pulls one out and reads it. She has received cards from about every state and from Germany, Japan, and Canada. She has about 700 cards maybe,” Jennifer Brown said. “We’re planning a big party when she start feeling better.”
Each day, Bree Brown’s courage, kindness, beauty, and strength shines through everything she does; she is #breestrong. At Scott County School District 2, Brown’s story is our story. Your story matters. You matter.
JES preschool teacher’s passion for the classroom helps students succeed
At 17, Pamela Akemon watched as her sister had to relearn the basic life skills — writing, driving, and even eating. Her sister was in an automobile accident, which left her sister paralyzed.
“I watched her push through every hurdle that stood in her way, and while she may do things a little differently, she is able to do just about everything she could do before,” Akemon said.
The adaptations and changes her sister had to make to her life left a profound impact on Akemon’s life.
“She drives an adapted vehicle, she is a beautiful artist, she works full-time, and has never let anything hold her back,” Akemon said. “Watching her reminds me that my students are capable of doing anything they set their minds to, and just because I may have an idea of how to get there doesn’t mean it is the only way to get there.”
The preschool teacher at Johnson Elementary School uses the example of her sister’s courage and strength and applies it to the way she teaches her students.
“When I see a student struggling with something, I look at it as though I need to adjust something. I need to help them find another method, another avenue, another resource to get them to where they want and need to be before going into Kindergarten,” Akemon said.
From the time Akemon was 5-years-old, she was passionate about education. She would sit in her closet and play school with her imaginary friends.
“I loved school,” Akemon said. “As I grew older, my resolve to become a teacher grew stronger.”
During her senior year at Scottsburg High School, she was given her first official taste of being in front of the classroom by teaching French to first-grade students at Vienna-Finley Elementary School.
“I loved it. At that point, I was convinced I wanted to teach first grade,” Akemon said.
At Hanover College, Akemon continued her refinement as a teacher and took every opportunity offered to work with children.
“In college, every opportunity I had in the classroom became the new grade I wanted to teach,” Akemon said. “I worked as a volunteer at Girls Inc. in Madison for two years, and my certainty that I was pursuing the right degree grew. I knew I wanted to make a difference in the lives of children.”
After graduating college, Akemon was unable to immediately take a full-time job in the classroom because she was pregnant with her son, Xavier, who is a seventh-grade student at Scottsburg Middle School.
“I knew starting a school year on maternity leave would not be beneficial to the students or the school system,” Akemon said. “So, I signed up to sub at SCSD2.”
After Akemon gave birth to her son and was a substitute teacher for less than one year, she was approached by the special services director about the teacher of record position for the special services preschool. As the preschool teacher, she worked in the mornings and was substitute teaching in the afternoons at Scott County School District 2. Just three months after taking the job, she was offered the supervisor position at special services.
“I fell in love with my job. I was responsible for these wonderful, little children who had individualized needs,” Akemon said. “My job was to work with these students, help them grow, develop, and reach their potential. Some of the students I have for three years, some only two years, but every one of them steals my heart."
Four years later, Akemon’s preschool program was moved from Kids Place to JES. She worked for special services until 2008, and she began working at Johnson Elementary School two years later in the preschool classroom.
“Getting the call from Kids Place was probably my defining moment that led me in this direction. I never would have thought about working with [this] age group before then,” Akemon said. “Preschool is now my passion. I love watching my students grow. I love celebrating their accomplishments, helping them meet their goals, and seeing their journey on their way to Kindergarten. I give them structure, routine, compassion, and love.”
As a preschool teacher, Akemon is dedicated to her students and is passionate about preschool and primary education.
“I wanted to reach them, and help build the foundation of their education. I believed, and still believe today, that at the elementary level, we are building the foundation that will hold the infrastructure of knowledge these students will carry with them their whole lives,” Akemon said. “That my job as a teacher is to reach every child no matter the challenge and help them learn.”
Not only did her sister’s testimony of determination and hard work impact her life, but Akemon’s students have changed her life and the way she sees the world.
“In the years I have been teaching, I have lost two students,” Akemon said.
One of her students, who was 4-years-old, died from complications of pneumonia, and another 5-year-old student died from a recurrence of cancer.
“When I think of both of them, I remember all the things they taught me about life. I smile at the memories I have of them. Sometimes, I will have students, and little things that student does will remind me of them. They are always there in my mind just like many of my other students,” Akemon said. “I cherish all my students. I celebrate every accomplishment they make no matter how big or small. I push them to exceed expectation and grow to their potential.”
The students are not the only ones learning in Akemon’s classroom.
“I know that when I am standing in front of my classroom, my students are not the only ones learning. They teach me every day how to see the world in new ways. I honestly think each and every one of them make me a better person and a better teacher.”
Akemon is changing her student’s lives as much as they change hers. With her passion, her positivity, and her willingness to help her students reach their potential, Akemon is setting up her students for success. At Scott County School District 2, Akemon’s story is our story. Your story matters. You matter.
Upcoming District Events
Events For Week Beginning Sunday, March 13, 2016
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Monday, March 14, 2016
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
SES Donuts With DadTime: Starting 3/18/2016 at 8:15 AM and ending on 3/18/2016 at 9:00 AM
Event Groups: Event Groups: Scottsburg Elementary Events
Location: Scottsburg ElementaryEvents For Week Beginning Sunday, March 6, 2016