Lucas Family Story

The Brady Lucas Speed Family

It was always Brady Lucas’s dream to attend Penn State. He attended his first THON Weekend in 2008 when he was 11 years old. It was the second year that THON Weekend took place in the Bryce Jordan Center, and he was very overwhelmed by all that was going on. 10 years later, Brady would become the Special Events Director for THON 2018.

Brady was usually a very positive and happy child, but he started getting bad headaches and was very pale and fatigued when he was eight years old. He would go to school and come home a few hours later in tears. One day, Brady and his older brother were playing Little Tikes basketball and messing around when Brady hit his head on the ground. This triggered a series of headaches that “just kept coming.”

Brady’s parents took him to the pediatrician many times, until he was finally recommended to an ear, nose, and throat doctor. The doctor ran a blood test under the suspicion that Brady might have mono. Instead, the doctor called Brady’s mom that day and said that Brady “needed to go to either Hershey or Johns Hopkins tomorrow.”

Brady and his parents drove to the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (now known as Penn State Health Children’s Hospital), where they discovered that his white blood cell count was 91,000. A normal white blood cell count is four and a half to 10,000.

“Right away, we knew that something was wrong, and they knew that it was a type of leukemia,” Brady said.

The doctors did a bone marrow aspiration and more blood tests to confirm, and Brady was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on April 14, 2005.

Brady started his treatment that same day. He underwent chemotherapy, steroids, and various other medications. His initial hospital visit lasted 23 days. Within a couple of weeks, Brady was in remission.

However, cancer had taken a toll on Brady. The chemotherapy gave Brady liver fibrosis, an enlarged spleen, and he has about half of the immune cells that an average person has.

In 2010, about two years after Brady finished treatment, the cancer came back, and Brady was given a 30-50% chance to live. The doctors had to think outside the box when deciding what treatment to use due to Brady’s liver damage. Brady became the first child ever in the United States to undergo a bone marrow transplant without radiation for ALL. His younger brother was his bone marrow donor, and now he shares 95% of his cells with him!

Brady’s time being treated for cancer was much easier on him and his family due to the support that Four Diamonds, THON, and other organizations provided through assistance with medical bills, child life, and music and art therapy, and psychological treatment. Four Diamonds continues to provide survivorship care for Brady and other post-cancer patients.

“I grew very close to the nurses and doctors, and them being able to provide the best care possible is because of organizations like THON and Four Diamonds,” Brady said.

Brady attended his first THON in 2008 when he was 11 years old, where he got to meet the football team through the Mini Wish program, now known as the THON Weekend Explorers Program. Having attended THON Weekend for many years, it was an easy decision for Brady to go to college at Penn State.

“For me, it was always a goal to go to Penn State, because I wanted to go to the university that helped save my life,” Brady said.

Brady’s first THON Weekend as a student was in 2015 as a Dancer Relations Committee Member, and in 2016 he was a Special Events Committee Member. He was also a THON chair for the organization that he was paired with as a Four Diamonds child, Phi Kappa Sigma and represented them as a dancer in THON 2016! Brady went on to be a Dancer Relations Captain in THON 2017 and was the Special Events Director for THON 2018.

“It was truly a dream come true,” Brady said.

Brady also met his wife through THON when he was a Dancer Relations Captain!

“I will forever be grateful for that, and THON’s just a special part in our relationship,” Brady said. “When we have children, one day they’ll go to THON and see what we were a part of as students.”

After graduating from Penn State, Brady went on to work as a Gift Officer at Four Diamonds for four years and traveled around the country to engage donors and alumni in donating to Four Diamonds.

Brady wrote and published a children’s book, “Smiley’s Smile” in May 2023 to help educate children on cancer. It walks the main character, Smiley, through his diagnosis and treatment and focuses on support from his friends.

“One of the big things that I like to focus on is not just the journey of the individual patient, but the journey of siblings, friends, and community members,” Brady said.

Brady and his wife moved to Washington State in November, where he continues to speak in schools and works alongside hospitals and childhood cancer nonprofits to share his book and advocate for cancer patients and survivors. Brady is involved in the Child Life space to help empower children to be a part of their health journey. In his advocacy, Brady focuses on disease prevention, preventing long-term effects from childhood cancer and promoting long, healthy lives for childhood cancer survivors.

You can learn more about Brady’s book, “Smiley’s Smile” here!