Teen Working Back to Health From Brain Cancer

When Tom and Megan Migliaccio’s son, Brendt, was running awkwardly during a Long Valley lacrosse game, they chalked it up to a previous knee injury that might have lingered longer than they expected.

But when the then-11-year-old got off the school bus the following day, his mom noticed something was way off.

“He was walking like he was drunk,” Tom Migliaccio said. “It seemed deliberate but we realized he couldn’t control it.”

A visit to the family’s pediatrician led them on a nightlong journey to Morristown Medical Center, where Brendt Migliaccio underwent a CT Scan of his brain.

That scan’s results changed the lives of the Migliaccio family in an instant.

What showed up in April 2010 was a tumor on the back of Brendt Migliaccio’s brain, also known as medulloblastoma, effecting his nervous system. . The family headed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York to have the tumor removed.

A biopsy revealed the growth was cancerous.

Migliaccio remained in the intensive care unit for a week after the surgery, then went down to Houston, Texas where he received seven weeks of radiation therapy. Once he completed the radiation treatment, Migliaccio spent the next 48 weeks going through cycles of chemotherapy at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

The pre-adolescent would spend two days a week in the institution receiving treatment over the course of nearly a year.

When the treatments ended, Migliaccio had an MRI in July 2011 that came back clean. There was no sign of a cancerous tumor, or any growth at all.

Just two months later, in September, another MRI came back clean.

But as the fall wore on, an MRI in November 2011 revealed there was a re-growth. The growth, however, didn’t appear in the original spot of the first tumor.

“It was basically the worst case scenario,” Tom Migliaccio said. “What were we supposed to do from here?”

The family’s next step was to undergo more chemotherapy treatments. The next two MRIs, in December and January showed the growth had not become enlarged, but it wasn’t shrinking, either.

At the beginning of this past April, Brendt Migliaccio underwent another surgery to remove the growth. Prior to the surgery, the now-13-year-old’s stem cells were retracted, frozen, and later used to help him recover from the surgery.

Migliaccio spent the next month in the hospital recovering from the surgery and stem cell treatments. He arrived home on Monday, June 4.

“He’s in real good spirits,” his father said. “He’s just happy to be home.”

Migliaccio currently undergoes physical therapy at Riverside Health & Fitness Center in Hackettstown, since the first surgery paralyzed the left side of his body.

The multi-sport athlete has regained 80-percent mobility since working with a personal trainer at the gym.

While things are looking positive today, each day is a new beginning and a mystery, Tom Migliaccio said.

“We’re on pins and needles every day,” he said. “You live from MRI to MRI, and work toward that date. You don’t make any plans because you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

“And what choice do we have?” Migliaccio said. “We were dealt this hand, and we can’t ignore it. It’s something you have to hit head on.”

Migliaccio said the community’s support has been unbelievable throughout the process, with neighbors and friends pitching in to help during the family’s travels to Houston and while Brendt underwent chemotherapy at Columbia Presbyterian.

On Thursday, June 7, the community will once again step in to help not only Brendt but raise awareness for cancer in general.

All boys and girls lacrosse players will play against each other in a friendly competition at the high school at 6:30 p.m. and honor Brendt. Admission for adults is $5 and $2 for children.

“The support has been awesome,” Migliaccio said. “The level of support has been unbelievable, and it shows a huge maturity level by (the lacrosse players) to support this cause.”

At , where Migliaccio attends, a group of seventh graders have created a 1,000-paper-crane mobile completed earlier this spring that will go to their classmate in the coming weeks.

“What’s being done in this community is amazing,” Migliaccio said. “I just hope we can get to the point where we don’t need to have fundraisers and benefits for cancer awareness.”