This week, an 7-year-old boy lost his battle with cancer, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
Braylon went to preschool with my daughter. He was a bright, shining child. The kind who had it all: academically advanced, a great athlete, but with such a warm, generous personality that everyone loved him.
The type of gifted person that the mythical gods of old caused to die young out of jealousy.
He was diagnosed only about 4 months ago. His type of brain cancer is considered a terminal diagnosis. Less than 10% of kids survive for 2 years after diagnosis.
Braylon faced it all with strength and good humor. A community rallied around him. You could almost dare to hope that he would be one of the very few to beat this thing, because that’s the sort of kid he was.
But miracles are, by definition, rare, and he did not get one. His passing was quick and unexpected, his fight ending just as it was moving to a new level.
I cannot imagine the pain of his parents, his little sister. Braylon’s light lives on in them, and in all those he touched. Although he is not physically here, his light has not gone out. Like any candle, Braylon lit many others with his flame, creating a lasting legacy for such a short life.
If there is any lesson to be learned from this tragedy it is this: hold those you love close every day. Tomorrow is never promised.
Not even when you’re 7 years old.
**If you’d like to help the family, who still have the heavy medical bills to pay, please go to Braylon’s Warriors and donate whatever you can.**
One Fish, Two Fish–We Got a New Fish
We bought our first fish January 7th, 2017. Much drama ensued. (Who knew fish had drama?) A year later, the fish saga continues. We are on fish #6.
For quite some time, we had 3 fish. They periodically battled fin rot, but overall seemed happy. Then December came.
First we lost Seashell 2 on December 6th:
“RIP Seashell 2. Overnight, the guppy Seashell 2 passed away. Seashell 2 replaced Seashell 1, who died his first night with us when he jumped out of the tank while we slept.
Seashell 2 was a fighter. He was the aggressive one of our 3 fish, always asserting himself against Flower, with Gem acting as peacemaker. He and the others survived the ammonia scare of January 2017, and led a happy fish life until August of 2017.
In August, we went away for 4 days, and when we came back all the fish were showing signs of fin rot. Seashell had it worst, with a huge red streak down the middle of his tail. Emergency actions stopped the fin rot, leaving the others with ragged-edged but whole tails–however, Seashell was not so lucky. The red stripe developed a tumor of some kind, and slowly the tail behind it fell away. Eventually, he only had a thin strip of tail at the top. He was unable to swim to the top of the tank to feed, and I was certain he would die within a few days.
However, he was a fighter. For weeks I watched him scamper around the bottom of the tank, eating algae off the plants and ornaments, and snagging fish food as it sank to the bottom. I was beginning to think he might make it after all, when he was found laying on his side on the bottom this morning. Grade-Girl said a tearful goodbye as we sent him on his way to the ocean.”
Then we lost Flower on December 8th:
“RIP Flower. Flower was the most beautiful fish of the surviving trio. A luxurious orange tail that is probably why my daughter named him Flower. He was gorgeous to watch swim around.
Flower took the brunt of Seashell 2’s aggression, but he was not a pushover. He would fight back until Seashell left him alone. He liked to hang out with his buddy Gem and graze on algae.
He survived the Ammonia Scare of Jan 2017, and was the least affected by the Tail Rot Scourge of Aug 2017. Soon thereafter, he began exhibiting neurotic behavior–hiding a lot, hanging in the water head up-tail down, curving his body into an apostrophe, and sometimes dashing madly around the tank and actually hitting the walls. He eventually started coming back out of hiding, but it became obvious something was wrong–his belly was slowly growing. The tumor finally got him today, sometime this afternoon. When found, his belly had begun to tear, and his tail was blood-red, possibly from an artery bursting. Although sad, he had obviously been in pain from the growing tumor for the last couple of days, and probably far longer, so its better he finally went.
Flower has joined Seashell 2 in Fish Heaven, and his body, with a few words by Grade-Girl, has been sent on its way to the ocean.”
So, Gem reigned supreme. Our smallest, most peaceful fish was the lone survivor. But we felt bad for him, because guppies are social fish.
So after we got back from our Christmas vacation, we decided to get Gem a new friend.
Meet Seashell 3:
Gem didn’t like this invasion of his kingdom. Our formerly peacemaking fish (who would literally move between two sparring fish) became a tyrant, harassing Seashell. Now I feel a bit bad about getting them together. Things seem to have calmed down a bit, so maybe it will work out.
A year in, the fish saga continues.