While Battling Brain Hemorrhage, Boy Fundraises Against Cancer

When Zach Brown looks in the mirror, he sees an eye patch and a mouth that won’t seem to do what he wants it to.

The image—a reminder of the brain hemorrhage that paralyzed him for weeks in October—is just a part of the 10-year-old  student’s life now.

Part of that is due to the maturity he gained enduring his battle with the injury. But it's also because, as Zach said, he got off “easy.”

Laying on a hospital bed in October, Zach helplessly looked on as doctors contemplated whether he had a tumor or hemorrhage near his brain.

It was the second time in a week Zach was in the hospital after experiencing double vision and debilitating headaches. After weeks of tests, sleepless nights and an MRI, doctors told Zach and his parents he had a hemorrhage—specifically a cavernous hemangioma that can cause seizures, headaches and even strokes, said Zach’s mom, Tracy Brown.

Up to that point, Zach shaved his head three straight years to raise money for childhood cancer research. But when the doctors said they were initially unsure whether he had a tumor, that’s when his fears were the worst.

“It was a moment when everything just stops,” Zach said. “For a while, I was in shock. I didn’t know all the facts. I was just thinking, ‘I don’t want to join [children with cancer].’”

Earlier this year, his 10-year-old cousin, Hunter, had a cancerous tumor removed from behind his eye. Also, while living in Indiana in 2008, his 14-year-old cousin, Katie Lynch, was diagnosed with cancer.

Zach and Katie immediately became close and Zach first shaved his head as a part of St. Baldrick’s Day after learning of his cousin’s diagnosis.

“[Katie] was very pretty and really nice. Everybody loved her,” Zach said.

But only months after their friendship blossomed and Zach shaved his head, the Browns moved to Maryland. It was the last time Zach would see Katie in person.

For three years, Katie endured chemotherapy and other treatment while using Skype to keep in touch with Zach. Each year, Zach raised money with St. Baldrick’s for Katie’s research.

On May 20, 2011, about two months after Zach  a third time, Katie died at 17.

Even though he only spent a few months with his friend, Zach thought of Katie “all the time” throughout his diagnosis and the physical therapy that followed.

“I had forgotten to walk, use my right arm, the right side of my mouth … there was a point I was completely paralyzed from the shoulders down,” Zach said.

That’s when Katie's influence helped the most, Zach said. He said he learned from his cousin that “no matter how hard it gets, it’s still possible.”

After enduring the death of his beloved cousin and the trauma of his hemorrhage, Zach shaved his head for a fourth time at Fado Irish Pub in Annapolis. And this time, it meant even more.

“I do St. Baldrick’s because I had a moment when I was supposedly that kid with cancer and I think, ‘I would want a kid doing it for me,’” Zach said. “I’ve been there, and it’s the scariest moment ever.”

“… I’ve had a lot of blessing and I can use everything in my body. I can walk again. With St. Baldrick’s, I’m giving that kid a little extra hand to make it better.”

Zach laughed about his shaved-head look and said he feels cooler without the hair. His mom even likes it because it’s easier to avoid “bad hair days,” she said.

Zach maintains a playfulness about his own medical experience largely because he said he feels the hemorrhage is nothing more than an obstacle to conquer.

“A hemorrhage is just an injury, a tumor was a sickness,” Zach said. “A scraped knee or broken leg hurts bad, but when you get a sickness, when you get the flu, there’s nothing you can really do.”

Zach’s mom said her son was always an “old soul,” but that his hemorrhage has forced him to grow up quickly.

“He’s just 10 but he’s dealing with very adult choices,” Brown said. “He’s not been left out of any doctors meetings.”

Despite the pain, uncertainty, fear and hardship the Browns endured during the past year, Zach refused to pity himself and said the support of his friends and family are helping him heal. The 10-year-old still has a brain hemorrhage and the risk of a “rebleed” that would put him in the hospital, but because he feels things could have been worse, Zach is relatively nonchalant with his medical condition.

“It’s really not the end of the world for me,” he said. “[The hemorrhage] is not a roadblock. It’s just like they made me turn. It’s just a different path. … I got more out of it than it took out of me.”

Zach raised $1,250 for childhood cancer research in this year’s St. Baldrick’s Day event. To donate to Zach’s account or to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, visit his volunteer page.