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It would be almost unheard of to chuckle while reading a book about someone with cancer — especially when the Big C diagnosis comes with an almost assured death sentence.
But laugh you will, and cry and process and think and root for the hero, because this book isn’t about a horrible diagnosis and death, it’s about living life to the fullest and lessons learned along the way.
What started as a collection of stories for Brad Fischer to impart to his daughters postmortem morphed into his recently published volume entitled The Sandbucket List, Lessons for Living Life and Facing Death.
Fischer, a Ferdinand native, has an amazing story to tell, one he hopes will bolster those who are struggling with cancer, but his book was truly written for everyone — it will touch every reader’s heart in ways they might not expect. “I want people to know it’s a happy story,” Fischer explains. “I’ve always been surrounded by so many great people in my life and I hope this brings laughs, not down or depressed.”
As a recent reader of Brad’s book, this writer would tell him emphatically, “Mission accomplished!”
Not to give anything away but there is some especially good news. Brad is still here!
On June 14, 2018, when he was 46, Brad was diagnosed with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (stage 4 gastric cancer) and told “With chemotherapy I might get a year. The five-year survival rate is zero. There was a 10 percent chance immunotherapy would work, but if the alternative was certain death …”
Everyone born basically faces a death sentence — we all know that — but we usually aren’t given an expiration date. Fischer was told by his doctor that fateful day that he possibly had another 12 months on earth (six with no treatment). This did not come to pass, thanks to miraculous advances in cancer treatment. Still, it was a crap shoot — a year or less to live or a 10% chance of surviving.
Before going any farther it’s important to note Brad will hold two discussions/book signings on Saturday, February 18, the first at 10 a.m. at Ferdinand Branch Library and the second at 1 p.m. at Jasper Public Library. If you already secured your copy from Amazon.com or another source he will be happy to pen his autograph on this keepsake treasure. And if you want to snag a copy and read the book beforehand it is available at Tin Lizzie’s in Ferdinand, Around the Corner in Huntingburg and Finishing Touches in Jasper. The first nine customers at each local reseller will receive a signed copy.
The Dubois County Plunge will be held the same day (Saturday, February 18) at 3 p.m. at the Ferdinand State Forest. Long-time readers will recall the very first plunge in 2012 was titled Plunge for Paul, the Paul being Brad’s nine-year-old nephew Paul Fischer who was battling a stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor — the same type of cancer invading Brad’s body, although his was initially stomach cancer.
Paul lost his battle a year later.
Brad writes, “More than anyone I’ve ever met, Paul ended up teaching me the power of laughter.”
Cancer has been an insidious and uninvited guest for this family. Many of its members on his maternal side were part of a study by Dr. Henry Lynch that ultimately led to the discovery of a genetic link to many types of cancers (see sidebar). Cancer took his grandfather, Arthur Grundhoefer, when he was 59 (before Brad was born). Six uncles, five first cousins and one aunt also were visited by that uninvited guest, five of whom are no longer among the living. Brad was tested September 12, 1997 and found to have the genetic mutation.
Still, he thought through clean living and self care he could cheat cancer.
Sadly the joke was on him.
As stated earlier, he started writing the book for his daughters, Anna Mae and Liz, who were 13 and 11 at the time of his diagnosis (17 and 15 today). “I always enjoyed writing,” he explains. “It was therapeutic, wrestling with topics I wanted to explore.” For Christmas in 2019 his wife, Tonya, gifted him with an editor to critique his manuscript up to that point and from there he shifted into a larger story with a longer message.
He was close to having it ready to publish in the summer of 2021 when in October another hammer blow fell — Brad was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to undergo surgery. In all he was visited by the big C with three different cancers, including two types of lymphoma.
“This was hard for my family — and far harder for people who love the patient. My wife Tonya shouldered a lot of work, a lot of everyday life.”
Brad continued to work. He is a data analyst and would take his laptop along for infusions whether for chemo, his original treatment, or immunotherapy, which is basically what saved him.
He explained chemo is used to try and slow the growth of cancer cells because cancer cells rapidly divide and grow. Immunotherapy is designed to try and tell your body cancer is a foreign invader. It tells your immune system this invader should not be in your body.
While this treatment does not work for everyone, he was willing to be the guinea pig. “I feel my mission is to spread the word.” And, if it didn’t work he could still be a case study in advancing treatment.
When he started immunotherapy, Brad asked if there were any other patients with gastric cancer and Lynch Syndrome and was told there was one — a woman in her 30s. “I felt very connected to her early on,” he recalls, and though he didn’t know her name and wouldn’t recognize her face he asked about her. “Early on it wasn’t working and she passed. I don’t want to forget her.”
He says, “I am extraordinarily lucky and I struggle with it. Others faced a different fate and it doesn’t feel I’m worthy.”
As a data analyst, Brad wishes there was some type of national data base that could include a Q&A. “This is one frustration. How does what has been learned through my journey help others? There should be a mechanism.”
After his first goal to publish the book had to pass due to his brain tumor, Brad set a new goal to have the book printed by December of 2022.
Goal met — the book was hot off the press on December 9. The cover was designed by his first cousin once removed, Travis Hasenour, who is a graphic designer.
The second to the last page shares the methodology for converting a bucket list to a sandbucket list.
Instead of focusing on, say, running a marathon, take a walk each day. Instead of shooting a wild animal have a squirt gun fight. Instead of traveling every continent, visit every nursing home in your area.
To see the rest, buy the book. It is sooooo worth the read!
Brad has nothing but praise for his physicians, his loved ones, his friends who saw him through this journey and his co-workers and it is likely that positive attitude — despite not unexpected lows — helped see him through the abyss.
In fact woven through the text of his brilliantly written book is the message he learned from his nephew, Paul Fischer: Laughter truly is the best medicine.”
Who was Dr. Henry Lynch?
From a June 13, 2019 article in the New York Times by Gina Kolata
A half-century ago, when researchers said cancers were caused by exposure to toxins in the environment, Dr. Henry T. Lynch begged to differ.
Many cancers, he said, were hereditary. To prove his point he traveled to gatherings of families that he suspected had histories of hereditary cancer. He arranged to meet family members and asked: Who in the family had cancer? What kind of cancer? Could he get medical records, and blood samples, which he could freeze and store?
He hand-drew family trees, with squares for men and circles for women, marking who got cancer and what kind. He was soon insisting to a doubting world that he had found compelling evidence of genetic links.
In time, the medical world accepted his claims, and his work — the family trees, the blood samples — eventually contributed to the discovery, by others, of a gene that when mutated can lead to colon cancer and an array of other cancers. He also contributed work that led to the discovery of gene mutations that greatly increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
Colloquially known as Lynch Syndrome, this is a genetic condition, meaning the cancer risk can be passed from generation to generation in a family. These types of alterations, or mutations, to a gene are called “inherited, or germline, mutations.”
Dr. Lynch passed away in 2019.
Photos and story by Kathy Tretter
