All over Marshall County
you will see evidence of Team
Brandon. Above, orange bows
are provided by 4-Ever Flowers.
T-shirts are selling like hotcakes.
Even Wendy’s got on board,
using its highly visible sign to
show Brandon his community is
fighting with him.
Fern Greenbank
Community Storyteller
Nobody should have to suffer through the agony that is cancer. The fear. The unknown. The treatment. Enduring it once is
hard enough to imagine. But twice? That’s Brandon Bradley’s reality right now, but he is not alone in the fight.
At the age of 17, Brandon was diagnosed with leukemia.
His world changed in an instant. Before he could experience his
senior year like a regular teenager, he found himself in hospital
rooms.
Brandon’s mom, Shan Wells, was busy as the assistant to
the county mayor and her world changed in an instant, too. But
Brandon and his mom are not quitters and neither are their
friends and family members. Team Brandon was born out of
shear love and faith for a young man that made people laugh and
feel special.
Shan said she is amazed and moved by the outpouring of
support for her son. She tears up when you ask her about Team
Brandon. She says her best friend, Sandy Henson, is behind the
organization, though Sandy will tell you that Brandon’s girlfriend, Courtney and Sandy’s daughter, Jessica, are the ones that
brought this crew together.
“He was diagnosed on a Sunday,” said Sandy. “His girlfriend
and my daughter decided to put up a Facebook page and by
morning, there were more than 1,000 friends.”
Sandy said Brandon had amassed a legion of friends from
school to church to his work with kids as a lifeguard. From that
close circle of supporters, a network of people emerged to help
Brandon through his life crisis. Now, there are people from all
over the world joining Team Brandon.
First, said Sandy, Melody Spence at the Victorian Melody
offered up roses for a fundraising activity and then the group
made t-shirts and bracelets and decals to sell. There have been
First Baptist Church yard sales to penny drives at Oak Grove Elementary School and bake sales. Angie Burditt at 4-Ever Flowers offered to make big orange bows that have become a visible
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