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‘I'm thankful every day'
Alan Lewis
Gerstenecker
Of the Suburban Journals
Collinsville Herald,Granite City
Press Record
07/02/2006
Brian and
Priscilla Kissinger met while students at the University
of Florida. Brian was diagnosed with brain cancer in
2003 and now plans to fly a small airplane across
country.
(Alan Lewis
Gerstenecker photo/Suburban Journals)
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 | The American Cancer Society's slogan, and one that was
most obvious during the recent Relay for Life in O'Fallon, is
"one person can make a difference."For Brian Kissinger, a brain cancer survivor, that
mantra rings true, and it's one by which he is so happy to
live his life.Three years ago,
Brian, now 37, was diagnosed with brain cancer. By September
2003, he had undergone brain cancer surgery at Barnes Jewish
Hospital in St. Louis and after that began
chemotherapy."I had one-and-a-half
years of chemotherapy," he said. "It was tough on me and my
family. But now it's in remission."
To look at him now, as he walked the
track at O'Fallon Township High School on Friday night, he's
healthy and one would never think of this vibrant man as
someone who had been afflicted with
cancer."Cured? No, my doctor tells
me we're never quite cured," Brian said. "If you can be called
lucky with cancer, I suppose I was. I was in stage two of
four, so my cancer was more treatable than some. It was a
less-aggressive cancer. The chromosomes revealed I had a good
chance at survivability."A major
in the Air Force, Brian, a navigator, had just been
transferred to Scott Air Force Base when he began having
headaches and then suffered a seizure that put him in the
hospital and, ultimately, led to the brain cancer
diagnosis.For Brian, who seemed to
have the world by the tail, the news of his cancer was
devastating to him and his family.It was almost summer. He was new to the Metro East, and
his family had stayed back in Charleston, S.C., to finish
school and wrap things up there before they would join him
here. An O'Fallon resident, Brian's task was to find a home
for his wife and three daughters."He was here by himself," said Priscilla, his wife. "Of
course, we were frightened, scared and shocked. He was in such
good health. I could see this with someone older, but not
someone his age, in his prime."As
frightened and concerned as Priscilla was for her husband, the
couple's oldest daughter, Alexa, took her father's cancer
diagnosis pretty hard."I remember
when all this was going on we were trying to acclimate to a
new school," said Alexa, who was 13 at the
time."I was so scared for my dad.
I just remember trying to be the strong older sister while
trying not to freak out too bad. It was hard on my mom, and I
knew I had to be strong for her."Now, three years later, Alexa is 16 and was willing to
give up a Friday night to walk with her father and mother in
the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. She's glad she
could be strong for her sisters, Gabriella, 14, and Isabella,
11."I'm here for my dad," she said
Friday night. "It's great to raise money for the American
Cancer Society so that others may survive like my dad did.
Hopefully, we can save others, so other families can have the
happy ending that we did."Brian,
who has been medically discharged from the Air Force, has
spent much of his recovery giving thanks and helping
cancer-related causes.Besides
walking in the Relay for Life on Friday night and early
Saturday, he ran in the Air Force Marathon, taking pledges
that benefited the American Cancer Society to the tune of
$2,000.Currently, he's building a
small aircraft that he hopes to fly coast-to-coast that will
benefit the American Brain Tumor
Association.Called a Zenith 701
Short Take-off and Landing, the plane will carry Brian from
coast-to-coast as he hopes to bring attention – and donations
– to the American Brain Tumor Association.His flight, called "Brain's Flight," is loosely
scheduled for late 2007 or early 2008. A Web page, at
www.brainsflight.com, details the flight, plane construction,
and information about the American Brain Tumor
Association.The flight is named
for Brian, but what's written is not a typographical
error."I was stationed in Okinawa
in '92, and we were visiting Korea," Brian recalled. "We all
got hats ordered with our names on the back, and they
transposed letters in my name to read ‘Brain.' Well, the name
stuck, and my nickname has been Brain ever
since."The oddity of being
nicknamed Brain and then being diagnosed with brain cancer was
not wasted on Brian."Yeah, pretty
weird," he said. "We've thought about that, but we're using it
now to benefit the American Brain Tumor
Association."Currently, Brian is
in the building phase of the Zenith, which will cost about
$30,000 to complete. Anyone wishing to contribute to the
coast-to-coast effort can do so by logging on to the Web
site."We started with a kit that
costs about $13,000," he said. "The engine will cost about the
same, and then the instruments will bring it up to about
$30,000."Priscilla said that
building the plane has been a great way for her husband to
deal with cancer."It's been a
healthy way for him to channel his energy and feelings," she
said. "For Brian, it never was about being stricken with
cancer, it was about moving forward. Doing this empowers him
to help others with brain cancer."Still, having her husband diagnosed with brain cancer
has made her realize how fragile life is."There are always the fears of the unknown," Priscilla
said. "Every six months he goes in for an MRI, and it's scary.
You never know whether there's going to be a
reoccurrence."The girls have been
so strong through all this," she said. "They're so very proud
of their father and all that he's been able to accomplish –
raising $2,000 from the marathon and building the
plane."There was a time, however,
that Brian was not so positive – mostly right after the
diagnosis."Yes, there was a denial
phase," he said. "Then I went through the ‘why-me?'
phase."When you hear cancer, you
think ‘I'm dead or I will be in six months.' To survive the
surgery, then the chemo ….. to go through these step by step;
it's nice to come out the other side
whole."He gives much of the credit
for his survival to a new brain cancer drug, Pemodar, and the
3D Stereo tactic that helped doctors to specifically target
his brain cancer."It allowed
doctors to get the tumor and only the tumor. It minimized
damage to healthy cells," he said.Despite "beating cancer," Brian has lingering side
effects."I've still got headaches
and some short-term memory loss," he said."Also, it appears I will take seizure medicine probably
for the rest of my life," he said, despite the fact that he's
not had a seizure since before his surgery. "But I'm alive and
I have my family."It's a great
compliment that my family and friends are here tonight
walking," Brian said as he paused on the track at the Relay
for Life."I'm very fortunate, and
I'm thankful every day that I was able to beat it. It's
brought me closer to my family and to
God."E-mail:
agerstenecker@yourjournal.com
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