A loving family, my positive outlook and excellent community-the secret to my survival

Content Warning: This article discusses cancer diagnosis, treatment, and

recovery. It contains references to medical procedures, mortality, and

mental health challenges. While the tone is generally positive and includes

humor, some readers may find specific topics sensitive or distressing.

Hello, my name is Brett VanLeeuwen. I’m 35, my wife of 10 years is Nicole, and my 8-year-old son is named George. I have osteosarcoma, originally in my right ribs. I operate a family farm in Linn County Oregon, at the time of my diagnosis I was farming 1,000 acres. My story begins in the beginning of 2022, when I got this weird nerve pain that felt like water running down my armpit all day. Even though I am stubborn, I went to my doctor who referred me to a neurologist. It took until September of 2022 to get into the neurologist, and he wanted to check my neck, not my armpit/ ribs. He told me it was all in my head and nothing was wrong. My doctor next suggestion was chiropractor, however it was planting season and I put the doctor off. On November 17th I was driving down the road when my tumors contracted and broke ribs 2 & 3 in 4 places, then sucked it inside my chest cavity and collapsed my right lung. Being stubborn and stupid, I took some pills and went back to planting crops. At one point I got off the equipment and almost instantly passed out in the field, while passed out I voided all my bodily fluids and waste. Also, I vomited at some point and aspirated my lungs. After what we can best tell was about a hour and a half, I came too and called my wife instead of 911. After a full 15 hours at er I was finally diagnosed as having 2 massive tumors and a collapsed lung. We did a biopsy and drained bloody fluid from my chest cavity several times, then was put on oxygen and sent home. Come December 12th we still had no official name for my tumors, which were described as 2 softballs stacked on each other. I became violently ill in the night and collapsed in the worst pain of my life, lying on the floor coughing up foamy blood, I finally told my wife to call 911. On route to the hospital in the ambulance, I died for the first time. After being watched in the hospital for hours I was finally transferred to legacy hospital in Portland. I had 2 surgeries up there to stop the bleeding and clean out the mess from the ruptured tumor the best we could. I stayed in hospital until December 28th. Come early January I was finally diagnosed with osteosarcoma and started chemo. I did 10 rounds of chemo at OHSU. While on chemo I developed neuropathy in my hands, feet, and legs. After the chemo was done OHSU decided to set the date of the surgery at July 13th. On June 10th with harvest just a few days away, my father plagued with doubt about harvest without me and depression about my illness took his own life. My amazing community fully handled harvest for me so I could get my surgery. The surgery consisted of removing ribs 1-5 on my right side as well as 15% of my lung. They went in through my back, which required the partial amputation of my right shoulder. A hard mesh was installed in place of my ribs 3-5. Leaving me with no flexibility on my right side. And my shoulder was re attached. The surgery took 10 hours 4 units of blood, and I died again. After a few months we had another surgery from a positive margin that removed part of my sternum. After that life got better until January 2024 when I was diagnosed with 4 Mets in my left lung. Two more rounds of chemo and 15% of my left lung removed I was better until I got 2 more Mets, one in each lung. Thankfully I cannot feel these as they are still small, so they are not impeding my life too badly. Unfortunately, there is no more treatment options. OHSU put me on a prostate cancer medication that insurance denied. Out of pocket is $24,000 a month, and lucky we got manufactured assistance. Currently I have leased out my farm to a friend while I fight, which gives me time to work my dad's estate out and make memories with family. We are checking off bucket list items which include season tickets to OSU football and restoring an old Harley-Davidson. I have survived this long thanks to a loving family, excellent community, and I overly positive personality. I urge all sarcoma patients to get in touch with sarcoma outreach programs like NW sarcoma and Immerman Angels