Inaugural Award Ceremony
2016 James Conner Courage Award Recipient
James Conner accepts the newly named "James Connor Courage Award."
2019 James Conner Courage Award Recipient: Harrison Brown
Harrison Brown
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, 2016
Autologous Stem Cell Transplant, 2017
Allogenic Stem Cell Transplant, 2018
In 2016, Harrison Brown was preparing for his Freshman season with the South Fayette Football Team. This southern Pittsburgh school district has had several championship seasons and Harrison was ready to start his high school football career as a defensive tackle and center for the Lions.
This year, 2019, Harrison will be a senior. It will mark the first time he will put on his school football uniform to join his teammates on the field.
The day Harrison was to board a bus for a team-building weekend in Ohio was the day he learned that what he thought was exercise-induced asthma was instead a tumor resting on his chest. Harrison was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Bob and Vicki Brown were stunned as they were told to take their son immediately to UPMC Children’s Hospital. Their world would forever change at this very moment.
But, they say, Harrison courageously listened to the diagnosis and moved into tackling his new path just as he did athletically and academically.
Harrison missed 89 days of school of his freshman year as he underwent five, 21-day cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiation. His first day of school didn’t happen until December of 2016.
Two months later, Harrison relapsed. This time he would need an autologous stem cell transplant, a treatment in which a patient’s own blood cells are removed and then transplanted back after several rounds of chemotherapy.
Harrison’s second relapse would happen just seven months after that transplant in February of 2018. Again, this young man set his sights on doing whatever was necessary to get through this next cancer diagnosis and treatment. This time it would be a stem cell transplant using donor cells. The allogenic stem cell transplant, which was followed by full-body radiation, kept Harrison from starting yet another year of school on time.
Harrison spent more days in the hospital than in the classroom during his first three years of high school. But, every single day he studied, was tutored, and powered through his advanced placement and college-level courses amid hospital rooms, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. What is most remarkable is he also maintained an incredible grade point average which today sits at 4.456.
In addition to his parents and family, Harrison had the full, unconditional support of the South Fayette Football team every step of the way. There were text messages, visits, and those few times Harrison and his dad would sneak out to his team’s football game and watch, with a surgical mask on, from the far end of the field. And after winning the WPIAL District 4A Championship this past fall, the team ran towards the sideline of Heinz Field to share their victory and championship trophy with their teammate.
Harrison Brown, the 2019 James Conner Courage Award recipient, is a positive, intelligent, courageous young man who refuses to be defined by cancer.
2018 James Conner Courage Award Recipient: Jimmy Hernandez
2017 James Conner Courage Award Recipient: Jimmy Hernandez
Jimmy Hernandez Valencia
B cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia, 2013
Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplant, 2016
Jimmy Hernandez was first diagnosed with cancer following his high school graduation in 2013. At the urging of his girlfriend and her mother, Jimmy went to the emergency room and was immediately taken by ambulance to UPMC Shadyside Hospital. For two months, Jimmy underwent intensive chemotherapy treatment, while his family kept a constant vigil at his bedside.
Jimmy’s leukemia returned in 2016 almost three years to the date of his initial diagnosis. This time, a stem cell transplant was needed to replace his unhealthy cancerous cells with healthy, blood-forming cells from a donor. The best results involve someone with a 100 percent match. But recent medical advances have shown that a 50 percent match or a haploidentical donor can be used. That donor is usually a parent or in some cases a sibling.
Jimmy’s dad, Mel Hernandez, was that match.
Dr. Rafic Farah, a medical oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, specializes in stem cell transplants. Jimmy became the first UPMC Hillman Cancer Center patient to undergo the High-Intensity Myeloablative Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplant. It was a success and Jimmy remains in remission!
Today, Jimmy is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Alexandra Habers, and Jimmy now works for a UPMC pediatric practice as a multi-lingual patient services representative.
The nomination of Jimmy Hernandez Valencia for the 2018 James Conner Courage Award came from Dr. Rafic Farah who thought his continuous positive attitude, supportive family, and the strength he exhibited in his long fight with cancer made him the perfect recipient.
2017 James Conner Courage Award Recipient: Darran Dunlap
2017 James Conner Courage Award Recipient: Darran Dunlap
Darran Dunlap, Leukemia Survivor
Darran was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on November 7, 2016. She complained of leg pain a few days prior and after a night of uncontrolled leg pain, her family took her to the Emergency Department on November 6. She showed no other symptoms and was laughing, playing and acting like a normal five-year-old right up until her diagnosis. It was only a few hours later that her family received the initial diagnosis - Leukemia.
Darran was admitted to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh that day and scheduled for tests in the morning to confirm the diagnosis. Since then life has been such a whirlwind.
That was all about a year and a half ago (will be current in May 2018) and it has been a steady stream of treatments, pills, hospital stays and clinic visits. But all the while Darran's family has remained positive — having stayed the course they hope to have her leukemia eradicated in March of 2018 with a final chemo treatment.
Darran is currently pushing through first grade with her twin brother, Declan and has missed very few days, sometimes getting tough treatment in the morning and then heading to school for the afternoon. Other times she fights through fatigue, nausea, and pain just to grit through the school day — all the while she hasn't fallen behind, which is a true testament to her toughness.
The day she was diagnosed, Darran's father called Dr. Stanley Marks for guidance and he still remembers what Dr. Marks told him. He said, "It isn't going to be easy. It's going to be a long, tough road, but she can get there. She can beat it but there won't always be good days."
They haven't. Some have been downright hell... but through all of it, Darran, her twin brother Declan, and parents Colin and Raina have remained confident that this will all make them stronger. And they have remained confident this cancer will be defeated in March. With the help of so many, this will be defeated.