Newly retired Carson City teacher battles MS, community fundraising for stem-cell treatment

Newly retired Carson High School English teacher Phil Brady, along with family and friends, are raising $59,000 to cover a stem-cell transplant treatment to stop the crippling effects of multiple sclerosis.

About five years ago, time momentarily stood still when beloved teacher, Phil Brady, rolled into school for the first time on wheels. To Brady, as he is affectionately known by friends and colleagues, it felt like all eyes were on him.

Prior to being coerced into succumbing to a wheelchair by caring friends and wife, he used a supportive crutch, which followed the use of a cane, to ensure his 166 steps from his truck’s parking space to his classroom and elsewhere. Although he can pop a wheelie in the wheelchair and even taught several begging students how to do so, the digression to chair use wasn’t so cool.

How It All Started
In 1999, while Brady taught at Dayton High School, he woke up one morning to a loss of vision in his left eye. At first, he attributed the sight loss to a racketball injury he had sustained several years prior. However, after a visit to his trusted eye doctor and a scan, the results were much more serious and life changing. Because he was in the early stages of MS, what doctors call the “relapsing-remitting” phase, his eyesight recovered, though other symptoms were yet to emerge. He recalls also experiencing severe bouts of vertigo even before the eye incident.

Since then, Brady has spent the past 25 years learning to cope with newly emerging symptoms, such as extreme fatigue; loss of physical mobility, including damage from over 15 sprains to his left ankle; a pins-and-needles type of deep numbness and shooting pains in his arms, fingers, legs and toes; muscle weakness; falling with subsequent dislocations or broken fingers; some minor bouts with brain fog; and loss of ability to grip certain items or type on his computer. He is no longer in the earlier stage of MS, where symptoms come and go, rather he is now considered “Secondary-Progressive”, meaning the autoimmune disease is more developed and its effects are considered more permanent.

What MS Does to the Body
Multiple sclerosis is considered an autoimmune disease because the body attacks itself, causing irreversible damage to “the protective coating on the nerve fibers (myelin). The disease affects about 1 million Americans and about 2 million people globally.

BBC newscaster, Caroline Wyatt, described it well in an article detailing her experience with MS, “It's thought that MS occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the protective fatty layer of myelin surrounding nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord, causing scarring or sclerosis."

"It's a little like mice nibbling on electrical cables and short-circuiting the electricity supply, making the lights flicker on and off before coming back to life — or leaving you permanently sitting in darkness.”

Brady described the “flicker on and off” as exacerbations.

“Exacerbations tend to be like getting gut punched or cheap-shotted. You just wake up the next day and suddenly you’re bedridden-you can’t walk anymore for a time.”

As another example, he noted, “My brain would say, ‘step’. And my left leg would not step. And so, I would go down.” This has clear implications on the Bradys’ daily living. Everything from Brady’s ability to take out the trash, make small household repairs, help with their 18-year-old son Samuel’s disability needs, even picking up after the dog’s use of the yard, because bending over could mean falling. He even admits, “I miss mowing my lawn.”

Hope and Heroes
Despite all the difficulties, Brady knows God was with him since the beginning. As he sat at the eye doctor’s office, hearing for the first time about this chronic disease called multiple sclerosis, he had a vision of a wheelchair and sensed that was in his future. Looking back on the vision, Brady reflected, “And as the years have gone by, and now that the wheelchair’s a reality, it was just God telling me what was coming.”

At times, he wrestled with the question of, “Why?” He has asked,“What’s up with God?” and “Why does God allow it?” Brady confessed, “I get angry at God sometimes. When you get so tired of the same thing over and over and over.” Brady questioned whether it was punishment for sin, and really evaluated his soul, “I’m like, Lord, God, I’m not practicing any sin.”

He pondered the chief purpose of mankind: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, but found himself wondering, “Where’s Your glory in this?” After time in his prayer closet, Brady was reminded of a familiar verse in the Bible, Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”

He concluded that God didn’t owe him an answer — or anything else for that matter.

“It’s not like I feel cheated, or like, as if God owed me something … I don’t have anything against God. I owe God everything. And so, God’s just chosen for reasons that I don’t know.”

Brady has drawn encouragement from another disabled Christian, Joni Earekson Tada, of Joni & Friends. He shared,“I mean people have sports heroes, athletes, you know, they have famous people. Well, my hero is a woman who’s been a quadriplegic since she was 16-that’s my hero.”

Joni often shares the story of the diving accident during her youth when she hit her head at the bottom of the pool, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of her life.

Brady and Stacie admire her for the fact that although her situation is so much worse than Brady’s and she has suffered longer than him, she continues to praise the Lord and serve others. They reason, “if Joni can do it, then we can.”

When Brady’s wife of 31 years, Stacie, learned of the diagnosis, she was always hopeful, but that doesn’t mean it was always easy. Having grown up in a home where her parents had adopted troubled teens, Stacie had a keen sense of reality that life tends to come with a certain measure of suffering for everyone.

After Brady’s diagnosis, she reasoned, “Well, this is what we have to deal with.” In her can-do attitude, Stacie confessed, “I was doing everything in my own strength. I’m a tough cookie. I can handle what comes … I’m hardworking, you know, kind of compassionate, not terribly compassionate. But like, I can do this,I can get through it.”

She sorted it as the “one thing” God would give her, and for that one thing, she could pull up her bootstraps and muscle through it. That was until their son Samuel began having life-threatening seizures.

Stacie explained, “All I know is when he [Samuel] started having seizures, … I realized I had taken what Brady was suffering … (and subconsciously said) ‘here is the box of all that I can handle’ and what Brady was going through fit into that box.”

When little things would happen with Brady’s symptoms, she would process them by putting them in the box. But when Samuel’s seizures began, and watching him struggle, she faced a harsh reality: not everything was meant to fix inside the box. It taught her to think, live and say, “God has to be the way I can handle things, not my own strength.” She concluded, “These things happen for us to grow past the things that we make our boxes, ya know? This is what I can fit into, and I can do this. To take away our, ‘I can do this’ mentality and say, ‘Only through God can I do this.’”

God has opened the door for a stem cell transplant treatment, which Brady plans to take part in throughout the month of July.

Why Stem Cell Treatment? Why now?
About six months ago, the Bradys connected with a local woman, DeAnna Lopes, who went through the stem cell transplant program at Clinica Ruiz, in Mexico, in 2016. DeAnna was also considered “secondary-progressive” like Brady is now, when she went through the treatment. After she returned home, she was able to walk 3 miles within just a few months. Understanding each patient sees different results, DeAnna’s firsthand account gave reason to hope the treatment can be effective.

“Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is an established non radiation chemotherapy medical treatment demonstrated to be effective to halt the progression in neurologic autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. The aim of HSCT is to “reboot” the immune system, to stop it from attacking itself.”

With two weeks of chemotherapy to kill off all the body’s white blood cells, all cell memory within the body is wiped of any reason to attack itself. During the second two weeks of treatment, the body’s own stem cells, which were removed prior to the chemotherapy, are then replaced into the system to begin building brand new white blood cells.

HSCT does not repair damage to the body that has already been done. Brady’s ankle may not recover from the years of damage from multiple sprains. However, the transplant is meant to stop the progression of the MS and its effects. It could mean no more painful numbness, which would allow him to rebuild his muscles and potentially regain his ability to walk.

Along with the dedicated help of his wife, Stacie, Brady has tried a few different medications and diets to help manage symptoms, but none of them were meant to be a cure. An all-vegetable diet and juicing were both a lot of work with no visible results.

For the past year, Brady has felt some pain relief on the carnivore diet. Varying medications were tried for as long as possible with noticeably worse side effects than the symptoms themselves. While all these methods were well-intentioned, they could do nothing more than provide very temporary relief and, at best, slow the progression of the disease.

The Bradys could sit in frustration over not learning about the opportunity of the HSCT sooner, but they are resolved to leave it alone, understanding, “God has his timing.”

What’s at Stake
It seems the timing is right. The way things seemed to line up just right with an immediate acceptance to the program, a time slot that fit within Stacie’s summer schedule as an elementary school teacher, the meeting of DeAnna Lopes, the generous donation and prodding of some close friends, and a hopeful turn-around for Brady’s prognosis, it seems God-ordained. Brady reckons that without treatment, he will be bedridden within a year, due to the current progression of symptoms. He can’t wait for next summer to do this. The time is now.

The Bradys know there are risks involved.

Carolyn Wyatt reported, “When HSCT first started, a lot of people died.” Many years have passed and the treatment has improved, along with its results, but Brady isn’t scared of even the worst possible outcome. Instead, what he fears most is draining every last penny he has for this, not knowing if it will indeed accomplish all that is hoped for.

“I don’t care about the risk, like, ‘you could die’, great! Thank you very much! That I don’t care about. What I do care about is cleaning out every little piece of savings that I have. And putting Stace and Samuel and our lives in jeopardy, for a possibility that may or may not work?”

Stacie remains hopeful, “But I’m content if he comes back and it’s stopped progressing and he doesn’t have the pain that he’s been having. That pain has been awful and it's grating on him, I can see it.”

The Bradys’ daughters, Rebekah Rosas, (28 years old) & Elise Ip (25 years old) are hopeful too. “My hopes are that my dad will be freed of his physical pain so that he can spend more time doing things he loves without feeling limited and uncomfortable. This treatment has given my dad hope and that, in and of itself, has been a gift to him. I am eager to see if his hopes come true,” Bekah shared.

Determined community
The community of Carson City is rooting for Phil Brady, because a loss for Brady is a loss for Carson City as well.

If MS hadn’t continued to take its toll on Brady’s mobility, he would not have retired from Carson High School this year. He viewed teaching as his calling.

“For me, the pleasure of working with these children from when they’re 14 and saying goodbye to them when they’re 18 and watching them come out of their metaphoric eggshell and they’re breaking out. And the ones who will listen, I say, ‘You’re going to make it. You’re going to be ok. You’ve got this going for you and I see this for your future.’ And I warned them. To some of them, I said, ‘hey, I don’t think you’re going down a good road here.’ What pleased me so much was to see their success.”

These messages came through to the students. Lilly Irvin, class of 2020, remarked, “Brady was the best and most realistic teacher that I’ve ever had and for that I thank him.”

Jakob Corona-Bale, class of 2019, noted, “If Brady ever had a bad day, none of us could tell, he was always so positive. He always had genuine care for me and offered real advice, I just wish I listened to him more often.”

In addition to Brady’s mentor-like care for the students, he was also known for “Brady Bucks”.

These were a way for students to gain additional points in bringing up their grade when achieving good behavior or other accomplishments, such as completing a paper in cursive. “You see at the beginning of the year, kids who refuse to write in cursive ... And then as the year goes on, it totally flips and every single kid,-when I say every single kid, there’s always 2 or 3... who know they’re gonna get an ‘A’ in my class anyway… And there was the ‘Brady Buck Black Market’. And seriously, I am not even exaggerating. It was school-wide!” Some students sold their Brady Bucks for cash to give another student a leg-up with their grades.

One student had a t-shirt made for Brady, stating on the front, “Brady Bucks, they really work” and on the back, “#Bradyisthebest”.

Brady’s close friend and former co-teacher, Lance Hendee, pointed out, “Brady’s presence not only in the classroom but throughout the school was an inspiration for everyone he blessed his presence with. He loved all his students and there were always students in his classroom during lunch and after school. He was a great teacher and is somewhat of a celebrity in Carson City. He can’t go out (into the community) without someone saying, “Mr. Brady!” The amount of people he has reached with a positive outlook is just amazing.”

In addition to his deep roots at the high school, Brady has been hard at work in other areas of the community as well.

He has been an announcer for a local Christian radio station, Pilgrim Radio, for a cumulative total of 10 years. Program Director Bill Feltner had this to say about him, “Brady is always a joy to work with. Brady obviously loves the Lord, and he has a super attitude, even though dealing with this challenge. We’re praying for a very successful outcome from his treatments.”

Brady has also been a member of the board of directors for the local pregnancy center, Life Choices, for a number of years. The MS has affected his ability to serve as board secretary, with a decrease in hand dexterity, as well as other minor functions. He intends to continue his service to the center and hopes to eventually gain back the ability to participate in ways he’s had to step down from.

The Bradys have been members of Silver Hills Church in Carson City for over 24 years, many of which Brady has served on the Board of Elders. He hopes to increase his teaching and preaching there without having to brace himself on the podium for the duration. The church prayed for the Bradys’ upcoming travels and for Brady’s transplant during their service on June 23rd. Pastor Ken Hansen treasures his friendship with the Bradys and the church has donated to the funds.

As if all of this weren’t enough, Brady also misses handing out Bibles to hotels, and other people and places, with the Gideons.

If the people of Carson City can momentarily imagine the butterfly effect of Phil Brady laying immobile on a bed within a year, versus recovering from HSCT and rebuilding strength within a year, what might those extremes look like for our community?

The Ask
The Bradys have always been givers. Stacie admitted, “For both of us to ask people for money is incredibly difficult for us.” So, their friends and family gave without being asked. And they are asking on behalf of the Bradys, “Will you give?”

Brady Bucks can take on a whole new meaning when you donate to Help Hope Live(https://helphopelive.org/campaign/24023/), a nonprofit fundraising site that serves MS patients. $59,000 is needed to cover the travel and cost of a stem-cell transplant treatment to stop the crippling effects of multiple sclerosis. Donations are tax deductible. Just as Brady gave thousands of students an opportunity to succeed, let’s do so for him.

At the time of the completion of this article, over half of the funds have been raised. Will you help us gather the remainder?

Footnotes and Links:
1) https://www.mayoclinic.org/-/media/kcms/gbs/patient-consumer/images/2013...
2) https://momentummagazineonline.com/strength-in-numbers/
3) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/caroline_wyatt_multiple_scle...
4) https://hsctmexico.com/
5) All other quotes, unless otherwise noted, are quoted from a face-to-face interview with Phillip and Stacie Brady on June 20, 2024.

Joni & Friends- https://joniandfriends.org/
Help Hope Live- https://helphopelive.org/campaign/24023/