Teenage girl trying to cope with osteosarcoma
Fundraisers are being held to aid cost of experimental treatment
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer

Caiti Brown

NORTHBRUNSWICK- At the age of 14,most girls are worrying about starting high school, when they can date and what the latest fashion trend is.

For Caitlyn Brown, life was a little different.

In the spring of 2004, Caiti fell off a hammock and hurt her leg. Because her bruisewouldn't go away, her doctor finally ordered an MRI for a more in-depth evaluation.

On July 5 of that year, her life changed forever.

A doctor called to say she had an appointment at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: doctors found a tumor in her leg, and she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a malignant bone cancer.

Caiti went through several surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, including a limb-sparing surgery in which all of the bones in her left leg, from her femur to tibia, were replaced with metal.

She didwell for awhile, especially considering her age, but then the cancer metastasized to her lungs in the summer of 2006. She underwent two thoracic surgeries removing a lobe of her left lung and disease from her right lung.

Caiti is now in Arizona at the Envita MedicalCenter undergoing a new, cuttingedge alternative treatment in which an individualized programof sevenmedicines are intravenously administered to her for an hour-and-a-half to three hours, four days a week, for a period of 40 days. The goal is to shrink the tumors in her lungs and build up her immune system.

"We're just fighting it right now," said Brian Brown, her father. "Sometimes she feels [worse than crap] and some days she feels like crap."

Brown is the finance manager at Malouf Buick Pontiac GMC in North Brunswick. He is living at his home in Toms River with his son, Brian, 11, and daughter,Maggi, 8, while his wife, Michelle, and his other daughter, Jacki, 15, are in Scottsdale.

"They are best friends. They share a room, so Jacki is going through it all with her," Brown said.

Brown is playing "Mr. Mom," as he calls it, helping his children get ready for school and picking them up at night. He said his neighbors are helping with afterschool responsibilities, as he is trying to support his own home and the rented apartment and car inArizona.

Yet the blood and immune therapy programs are not covered by insurance, and cost well into the $100,000s. Because traditional methods weren't working, Brown said after hearing referrals about the Envita Center, this was their only option.

"The money doesn't matter. You gotta do what you gotta do," he said.

The family has held several fundraisers to raise the money needed for Caiti's treatment. So far, they have held a walk in their neighborhood, a comedy night in Toms River and a benefit at the WoodbridgeAmerican Legion, and have received proceeds from pickup orders at Attilio's Pizzeria in Toms River,

On Friday, the Dante Alighieri Society will host a benefit at 562 Summit Avenue in Jersey City with food and entertainment for $25 per person. On Sun., March 16 a spaghetti dinner at theVFWinWoodbridge on Berry Street will be $7 per person. A Tricky Tray auction in the Brunswick area is to be announced.

An Avon fundraiser is being held through her Web site, www.CaitiBrown- TripForLife.com, through March 23. Anyone hosting a Premier Designs jewelry show through May 1 will have proceeds donated.

"People have come out. It's kind of humbling, the amount of support you get from strangers," Brown said. "I'd give up all the money to make her better, so it doesn't matter. I just want her better."

AlthoughBrown said, "the newnormal began, life changes, and nothing is the same," he said, "If you didn't knowshewas sick, you would never know. She is an amazing girl. She walks, she talks, she eats. She does what every 17-year-old does. She drives, she just bought her prom dress. She's living her life. Cancer ain't stopping her."

Caiti attends the Performing Arts Academy in Lakehurst and is a theater major studying to be an actress. She also used to play the drums.

"She's been an inspiration to everybody. People tell her all the time how strong she is," her father said.

Donations can be made to The Caiti Brown Trip For Life, P.O. Box 8, Toms River, 08753 or can be submitted through a PayPal account on theWeb site.

Brown said that ifmoney cannot be donated, he would appreciate if residents simply pass around the information to others in hopes of spreading awareness.