Ryan Brune

Posted on by

Ryan Alexander Brune, 11, of Fallon, born Feb. 13, 1998 was granted his angel wings on Oct. 2, 2009, following a long battle with brain cancer.
Ryan was diagnosed with cancer May of 2008. He was complaining of headaches and his mother April Brune took him to a doctor in Fallon and demanded that they give him an MRI.
“They kept saying that it was just migraines, a sinus infection, his diet, or something like that, but he kept getting worse,” April said.

April looks at a picture of Ryan from first grade.

She called the doctor and asked that they get him in for a CAT scan right away. They got him in and found out he had cancer that day.
“ We drove him to Reno and from Reno they wanted to care flight him to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto where all the specialist were. I was horrified,” April said.
Ryan’s father Tim Brune flew with him, while April and Ryan’s older sister Kara drove to Palo Alto.
“We got there five minutes before care flight—it was the most terrible drive of my life,” April said.
Ryan’s older brother Taylor was on a Reserve Officers Training Corps trip in San Diego when he found out that his little brother had been diagnosed.
“I got a phone call from my mom and she told me that Ryan was sick. I really did not know what was going on. I knew that Ryan was having headaches before I left and it turned out they were a sign of a brain tumor. I was pissed, sad, angry, and distressed about everything that was going on,” Taylor said
Ryan’s brain tumor is known as Glioblastoma Multiforme and with this type of cancer there is only a 1 percent chance of survival.
“The hardest part about knowing Ryan had cancer was knowing that he was going to die,” April said.
Ryan was diagnosed at the young age of 10. He had three brain surgeries, a port surgery, where he had to have a port inserted under his skin, he had radiation, a couple different types of chemotherapy, and then a trial through Duke University and UCSF, but that was all they could do for him.
“Hope is what kept me going,” April said.
When Ryan found out that he had a brain tumor he hid it a lot, April said that it was hard on him.
“He was a trooper though. He breezed though everything—all the treatments, all the radiation, he just did phenomenal,” April said.
April and Tim searched all over the world, talking to doctors to see if they had anything that would help him. They traveled from Lucile Packard to Texas to talk to a doctor and even took Ryan to North Carolina for treatment at the Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.
“I prayed there was a cure—that eventually he would get better. It was the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my life. All I could do was pray,” Tim said.
The family did not stop living life once Ryan was diagnosed. They continued to do things and never sat around doing nothing.
When April, Tim, and Ryan lived down in Palo Alto during 30 days of radiation they never sat in the hotel room. They always found something to go out and do.
“Instead of sitting there we wanted to keep Ryan’s mind off of it all and I think that is what kept him well—always out and about looking forward to the next thing we were going to do,” April said.
In 2008 Ryan and his family took a Make a Wish trip to Hawaii. It took them forever because Ryan wanted to do everything.

Ryan swimming with the dolphins during his Make a Wish trip to Hawaii in 2008.
Courtesy photo: April Brune

From swimming with the dolphins, to swimming in the lagoon with the wild sea turtles, parasailing, a helicopter tour around the island, and a submarine trip in the ocean.
“The parasailing was his favorite. He wanted to go so bad, but then when we got on the boat he was really afraid, but the guys who ran the boat were really, really, good with him and told him that he was in control,” April said.
They told Ryan that they were going to put him up inches at a time and if he got to a point where he felt uncomfortable to put two thumbs down and they will bring him right back down.
“I went up with him and when we got way up there he had the biggest smile on his face and when they started reeling us down he was like ‘no mom, no they didn’t tell me the sign for staying up longer’ he just loved it,” April said.
Ryan loved Hawaii and his family had a great time and enjoyed every minute and everything that they were able to do while they were there.
Ryan continued to go to school throughout his battle against cancer and the treatments. He was diagnosed in fourth grade and went to school some of fifth grade, but did not attend his sixth grade year.
“He had another surgery in March and he didn’t go to school in sixth grade because we had found out the summer before that he was not going to make it,” April said.
Ryan passed away at the young age of 11. Since his passing it has really been Taylor and Kara that have kept April and Tim going, but they can’t help but think about the son they have lost. April said that she misses him every day and that she wonders what he would have looked like.

Tim and Ryan in Hawaii during Ryan’s Make a Wish trip in 2008.

“Ryan was the strongest and bravest person I have ever known,” Tim said.
It still affects Ryan’s family today and his brother Taylor said that it always feels like there is something missing and half the time he doesn’t really know what it is, but when he actually thinks about it, it’s usually him.
“Loosing Ryan has affected me in ways that I don’t even think of and it has opened my eyes to what is really important in life,” Taylor said.
When Ryan passed the elementary school he attended in Fallon, E.C. Best, wanted to do something special in his remembrance.
Ryan’s fourth-grade teacher Lisa Kent said that her plan was to do something small, but was happy to say that it turned out to be quite the reading corner.
Kent had Ryan in fourth grade—the year he was diagnosed and enjoys bringing her students over to the library and doing a read aloud with them in Ryan’s Reading Corner.
“Every year I bring my kids in at least a couple times to do a read aloud and I tell them a little about Ryan and who he was,” Kent said.
Kent continues to add to Ryan’s Reading Corner and hopes to bring in a picture and a little write up about who Ryan was so students will know the special boy behind the corner.
“The corner is important to me to have for him. He left an impact—he was important to me,” Kent said.
Today Ryan’s family lives in Reno and his mother April is a volunteer for the Make a Wish Foundation, where she is a wish granter and helps out in the office. She also participates in the brain tumor walk in San Francisco every year and raises money through that.
“I love doing the walks. It’s a feel good thing and you feel really good doing it knowing where the money is going,” April said.
The walks are held in the beginning of May in Golden Gate Park. There are quite a few teams who show up and participate in the walk. April’s team the past three years has consisted of family and close friends.

April and her sister Lisa at the Brain Tumor walk.
Courtesy photo: April Brune

“We make signs that say ‘Team Ryan Forever 11’ and I just love it. I will do it every year—forever,” April said.
April also plans on starting a walk here in Reno on the bike trail from Cottonwood to Rock Park.
“It’s such a beautiful trail and people can park cars at both ends and we could have events going on during the walk and make it something really fun and special,” April said.
On top of that April plans on getting involved with the Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation and start volunteering with them.
“They are such a great organization and they helped us out a lot through Ryan’s sickness and after he died,” April said.
Ryan has touched the lives of his family and has left quite an impact. There is a special poem that April has framed in their living room that Ryan wrote a couple months before he passed and it is special to her and the family because it was one of the last messages that he left for his family that they will cherish forever.
“It is just beautiful, and I plan on figuring out a way to get it etched in stone,” April said.

“Some stars shine blue
Some stars shine white
But they all shine bright
Some have names some don’t
You try to catch them
It never comes with a fight
They shine white they shine blue
Never mind the stars
They notice you”
-Ryan Brune
2/03/09

Listen to a quick clip of this story below:

Leave a comment