Going the distance

Alana Brunner’s voice does not catch as she talks about her terminal brain cancer on the phone with the Gazette.

Her voice does not crack as she talks about her father’s debilitating stroke last year and it does not crack when she mentions she does not know how soon she will die.

Instead, the 25-year-old Palouse woman brings up her faith, her focus on the good things in her life and in particular, her year-long quest to build a children’s home in Uganda.

In between monthly rounds of chemotherapy, Brunner is working with Palouse Federated Church and with a Christian group in Holland to develop a 10-acre sustainable boy’s home in a small town outside Kampala, the country’s capital.

“Right now I’m just determined to live life for all it’s worth and trust God with my future. I’m determined to make the most of the life I have left whether I have a year left or 15 years or 30 years,” Brunner told the Gazette Monday, adding it has taken time and prayer to come to terms with her rare form of terminal cancer.

How did her involvement with Uganda come about? And when was she diagnosed with brain cancer?

It all started after Brunner graduated from Washington

State University in the spring of 2009 with a degree from the soil science department. She was selected for a WSU soil science research project to study soil moisture in seasonal wetlands in Uganda

Brunner left in the summer of 2009 for the two-month trip. While working on her research in the small town of Kasana, she met a Ugandan man and a woman from Holland who had together helped five boys off the streets in Kampala.

The woman had contacted friends in Holland who were raising money to permanently fund the home, called Father’s Heart Children’s Home.

The 19-year-old from Holland was the only other white woman in Kasana, so she and Brunner quickly became friends. Brunner soon moved into the children’s home and started helping out.

The group eventually decided to set their sights on 10 acres of land to make a fully sustainable boy’s home with a well, livestock and a house.

Brunner returned to Palouse in November of 2009.

Weeks after her return, her father, Gary Brunner, suffered a severe stroke that left him unable to walk or speak for months.

A month later, Alana began having headaches. After visiting several doctors she was finally diagnosed with a rare form of terminal brain cancer called glio blastoma.

Doctors removed an egg-size tumor from her brain in February 2010.

Her father’s stroke and Alana’s cancer threw the Brunner family into financial turmoil. Gary and Cheri Brunner had been living in a fifth wheel trailer as they built a home in Palouse. Gary couldn’t live in the trailer after his stroke, but the family couldn’t finish constructing the home.

And this was when Alana’s “angels” began showing up. Two churches, her childhood church in Long Beach and the Palouse Federated Church, began donating money.

Money began flowing in from the relatives, friends, the churches and church members. The same crowd began showing up to work on the home.

The funds helped cover Alana’s surgery expenses while she recovered at the University of Washington Hospital. Her father’s medical costs were completely covered.

The home was eventually finished and the family moved in. Their finances stabilized and Alana, who has health insurance, began chemotherapy treatment.

Alana didn’t give up on the home in Uganda. For the past seven months as she coped with having a terminal illness, she diligently presented the facts about the home to Palouse Federated Church and to others in the area.

She held a fundraiser in Palouse in early December. The money for Father’s Heart Children’s Home began flowing in.

To date, Alana has raised $8,000, all while she received chemotherapy treatment.

“I just think it’s an amazing story. She has every right to focus on herself and pity herself. But she’s focusing on these kids in Uganda,” said Pastor Corey Laughary of the Palouse Federated Church.

Laughary said people came out of the woodwork to help the Brunners and the work in Uganda.

The group of Christians in Holland received a donation of 11,000 euros. Together, the supporters behind Father’s Heart Children’s home believe they are close to the total needed for the boy’s home.

Alana’s doctor recently told her she may have a matter of months or she may have years. The disease is rarely found among females her age but is almost always terminal for males over the age of 50 where it normally strikes.

“I’m so thankful for something to do while I’m going through my monthly radiation and chemo. I’m thankful I can do something that will make a difference,” Brunner said.

She wants to visit Uganda one more time to see the realization of the boy’s home.