Mike Brandt’s Fight Against Cancer

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  • Mike Brandt’s Fight Against Cancer
    Mike Brandt’s Fight Against Cancer
  • Mike Brandt’s Fight Against Cancer
    Mike Brandt’s Fight Against Cancer
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From starting his pizzeria in 1987 to running his oneman painting operation today, Mike Brandt has always been a hard worker.

Now Brandt is having to face his toughest job yet. His battle against cancer.

Late last year, Brandt and his family were given the news that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Following this Brandt began an aggressive treatment of proton therapy, a radiation therapy that pinpoints cancer in the prostate and does not escape the prostate.

Brandt is scheduled to take 29 sessions of therapy. He receives the treatment Monday through Friday and has currently undergone three full weeks of therapy.

“The proton therapy is pretty expensive. It's roughly $50,000 to have done,” Brandt said. “I have to pay back about $530 a month to them. Then another $430 a month for my injections, and the injections are going to last for about a year.”

Despite his cancer, Brandt continues to run Brandt's Painting, his painting business that he started in 1990. While he runs it primarily himself, his wife Melody also assists him.

Due to the way things are set up, Brandt has had difficulties getting an insurance policy set up to cover the costs of his treatment. Therefore, his daughter Nikki Blackburn has set up a GoFundMe page for people to donate to Brandt’s fight against cancer.

“At first I was very reluctant and very prideful. I always tried to do everything on my own and build a really strong business,” Brandt said. “But my daughter insisted, she was like, ‘You're going to need some help. You can't just try to do this with your everyday income.’”

Brandt’s Painting has served people all across the state from painting the TB Ferguson Museum in Watonga, El Reno’s downtown jailhouse, and the Calumet school building.

He plans to continue working for as long as he can. However, Brandt may be forced to stop working down the line because of the therapy.

“The injections have kind of brought me down a little bit. I’m a little wobbly in the legs. That's kind of not the best thing when you're on a ladder. So I have to be careful with that, but I want to continue doing what I do,” Brandt said. “This is my livelihood. I need to be able to pay what I can. We've got truck payments, rent, insurance, groceries, you name it. It's just like everybody else. We have all the same stuff. For some of us, it’s just more than others. I just can't quit. I'm 57 and I can't quit.”

Making sure people are aware he can still work is important to Brandt as he recently posted on his Facebook page letting his customers know he can still work.

“I was afraid that if they had seen the [GoFundMe] that a lot of our customers would assume that [me and my wife] are not able to do anything. We can still go and do things,” Brandt said. “I'm not quitting. I'm going to push on. I'm a trooper.”

Brandt is hopeful that he’ll beat this cancer, though. He said doctors were able to find it early on and that the cancer seems to be isolated to just the prostate area.

“There's really good odds with the therapy. But you know, cancer’s cancer. You just never know,” Brandt said.

However, Brandt mentioned he has no fear of dying of cancer. His fear lies in leaving behind his wife, family, and a possible debt from the medical treatment.

“I just really don't want to leave all this debt behind. Truth of it is, I believe I'm going to make it. I really do. But if I don't, I don't want to see [my wife] with a bunch of debt,” Brandt said.

As of Monday, Brandt’s GoFundMe campaign has raised $2,810 of the $30,000 goal and Brandt said he could not be more grateful for people giving to his campaign during what he describes as a rough time for everyone.

“They can only give so much… Right now it's not a good time. So much is going on. Texas is dealing with stuff. People are losing loved ones due to COVID,” Brandt said. “I mean, reality is reality, but I'm thankful. I'm very, very thankful for the ones that have been able to give.”

With the money raised so far, Brandt said he now has enough to cover the next two months of payments for his medical bills.

“We're looking at almost a thousand dollars each month that we've got to have to continue to do what we're doing,” Brandt said. “[The donation money] is a help. That's something that we didn't have before.”

Throughout all of this, Brandt’s faith in God and his family is what he said has helped keep him positive.

“I think that's the most important thing. My love for God, my love for my family, and my love for the work and the people that I worked for. That's what's keeping us going,” Brandt said.