'Hoping A Miracle Happens': New Lenox Dad In Fight Against Rare Cancer

NEW LENOX, IL — Brian McCormick was in the home stretch.

The 33-year-old former laborer was 25 days from wrapping up a 90-day probationary period on at his "dream job" with ComEd, when things went terribly wrong.

One day in April, the New Lenox husband and father to a 4-year-old boy called his wife from work, worried that suddenly his vision was blurred. He went straight to an ophthalmologist, who urged McCormick to visit an emergency room for what was said to be a bulging eye.

It was a trip to Silver Cross Hospital, and then another to Rush University Medical Center.

Within a week or two, crushing news. McCormick was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma. This type of cancer accounts for approximately 1 percent of all malignancies of the head and neck region, according to the National Institute of Health. Of 566,000 people diagnosed with cancer in the US each year, only about 1,224 of them are diagnosed with ACC.

"One of the worst cancers you could have," his father-in-law Tony Manville told Patch. "It's very rare."

The position of the cancer makes it nearly impossible to treat, Manville said. Sitting behind his eye and near his nostril, it's adjacent to a main artery and close to his brain stem.

"They gave them the worst news they could get, told them it was inoperable because it was sitting so close to the brain stem and the artery," Manville said. "They can’t take the tumor out because he would die if they hit the artery or brain stem. He would die."

McCormick briefly went back to work in attempt to complete his probationary period. His benefits would not kick in until 90 days had passed. With just 8 days left to go, supervisors instructed him to stay him, then reportedly terminated him for his absences, Manville said. McCormick, wife Mary, and their son Connor were left in a precarious position, Manville said. Mary is a groomer at PetSmart, but McCormick's benefits would have been instrumental in covering his care.

Manville said it left the family grappling with next steps.

"It’s a disaster."

'You hope each day is a good day'

With treatment options limited, McCormick entered into a clinical trial based out of MD Cancer Center, in Texas. For seven weeks, once a week, McCormick would fly to Texas for treatment and return home the next day. With no income for Brian, he and Mary were relying on help and support from family.

Manhattan resident Manville started a GoFundMe for the couple, two high school friends he's seen grow up together and cultivate a loving marriage.

Both graduates of Lincoln-Way Central High School, they met there and their relationship started in college.Tthey've been together eight or nine years, Manville said, married for seven.

Manville recalls that he liked McCormick early on.

"He’s always been a really good kid, we always loved him when they were dating," he said. "He’s a hard worker. We were happy that they found each other. They both are really funny, feed off each other, enjoy each other."

Manville said McCormick's biggest points of pride are his marriage, fatherhood—and work.

"The proudest thing is he gets up every single day, and he works hard," Manville said. "And we watch how he looks at her, and looks at their kid, and one of the things you want for your kid is to know they’re safe, know they’re loved, and we always knew that with him.

"We knew he was a stand-up guy. We knew he was always going to try to take care of her."

Manville had been reluctant to start the GoFundMe, he said, putting his family's struggles on display.

"We kinda were embarrassed," he said. "We put it out there, and we were so surprised, it’s at $54,000!"

Those funds have been helpful, he said, as the family received the news that the clinical trial had been unsuccessful.

"It did nothing," he said. "The tumor didn’t shrink."

Next, he could undergo radiation and chemo in hopes of shrinking the tumor. He would again travel to Texas for the treatments, staying at a rental home—partially paid for with the fundraiser. He'll be there for six weeks total, with treatment slated to last until the end of September.

Though the clinical trial didn't work, Manville clings to hope that the latest treatment will give them a glimpse of a path forward.

"You hope each day is a good day," he said. "You hope that medicine and the gains that they make every year, they come back and say, 'we can try this now.'"

Missing them terribly

With McCormick's treatments, comes considerable time away from his family. Mary visits as often as possible with Connor, but the travel is tough on them.

"He’s missing them terribly," Manville said. "They’re shuffling back and forth, that’s really hard on him because he wants consistency for Connor. He’s a great dad, and he’s a loving dad.

"Connor loves him to death."

Manville and wife Peggy are doing what they can to support the young family—ranging from babysitting, to yardwork, to help with bills.

"You look at a young family—young couple—they have tons of support from his family, our family and friends, siblings, and you just wake up each day, go day-by-day, hoping he feels some sort of relief from his pain," Manville said. "We’re just here to support them whether it’s mental, our families are helping them at the house, cutting the grass, taking care of things.

"My wife is one of the biggest supporters, the rock of the family."

They continue to hope that the treatments will work, and that there are brighter days ahead.

"We’re hoping that a miracle happens," Manville said. "You end the six weeks, and maybe it gets smaller, small enough they can take it out. You hope that he gets healthy enough that he can get back to work."

McCormick is clinging the hardest to hope.

"He still believes he’s going to get better," Manville said. "You gotta keep believing that."