Brittnie's Story

During the summer of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and countless other environmental stressors, the Gray family was able to find happiness and hope through the excitement about their first pregnancy. Brittnie was having some general discomfort, aches, pains and what she assumed were normal pregnancy symptoms. As the symptoms grew more severe, she found herself in the emergency room where she was diagnosed with liver failure. She was checked into the ICU, and shortly thereafter scans revealed she had tumors throughout her lungs, liver, kidney, pancreas and a life threatening tumor pressing up against her heart. At the time Brittnie was 20 weeks pregnant. The Providence medical team made it clear that treatment needed to start immediately, and that Brittnie’s life was the priority. Tim and Brittnie were forced to face the fear of losing their life and future together, while mourning the life of their unborn daughter, Pippa.

After her Oncology and OB teams got together, they agreed to form a treatment plan known to have less side effects for mother and baby during pregnancy, in an attempt to preserve Pippa’s life. The Grays knew they were surrounded by brilliant people at Providence, and felt a sense of hope for their daughter's life. Together Brittnie and Pippa had 4 rounds of chemotherapy, a liver stent placement, countless lab draws, IVs, a PICC placement and together they fought untill the day Pippa Louise Gray was born on October 24th at 32 weeks gestation. Pippa was rushed into emergency surgery only 12 hours after being born. She recovered, and continued to grow and gain strength in the NICU at St Vincent. While there was a window of excitement and joy for their growing family, the reality was Brittnie’s cancer was getting worse. Her first attempt at chemo had failed, and they needed to start a more aggressive treatment plan immediately. While recovering from her C-section, Brittnie began another round of chemotherapy. Meanwhile she and Tim continued to show up daily for Pippa who was learning to eat and breathe without the ventilator. After 42 days in the NICU, they were able to fight Brittnie’s battle from home, as a family of three with their healthy baby girl.

Tim and Brittnie took on parenthood as they do everything, with so much love and excitement. They were able to smile and laugh and create a happy environment, while hiding their aches, pain and tears from Pippa the best they could. They would parent with 100% effort, between medical treatment, daily appointments, scans, and labs while Tim continued to work and provide for their family. There was little sleep to be had with a newborn; and Brittnie lay awake most nights coughing and fighting to breathe while the tumors continued to take a toll on her heart and lungs.

In December 2020, Brittnie could hardly walk up a flight of stairs and could no longer lay flat on her back. The hope of a successful treatment felt lost. After failing 7 rounds of chemotherapy, the medical team declared that her cancer was still unresponsive, and they needed a new, more aggressive form of therapy. Brittnie transferred her care to the team at OHSU, in order to gain access to a clinical trial called CAR-T. But first the new Oncology team needed to reduce her tumor burden significantly to have even the slightest chance at a full recovery. They decided to pursue a combination of immunotherapy & radiation, targeting the softball sized tumor pressing on her heart. After 10 rounds of radiation, and 2 rounds of Keytruda, the Gray family finally had their first glimmer of hope! The tumors had shrunk enough for the medical team to feel comfortable moving forward with CAR-T.

CAR-T is known by many as the ‘future of cancer treatment’, and it very quickly began to work for Brittnie. It will continue to work inside of her body over 12 months without having to go in for additional treatments. As the CAR-T began to work miracles and shrink her tumors dramatically, Brittnie began to feel stronger, healthier and more herself. She started running again, and made a goal to plan a half marathon, and continue to fight for her life, and other mamas just like her. Her results have been radical, and the team at OHSU is thrilled with the progress.

By the end of April 2021, between Brittnie's treatment and Pippa's NICU stay, the Grays had spent over 100 nights in the hospital. Giving them all the motivation they needed to one day beat cancer, and find a way to give back to someone else in the midst of their battle. Thats exactly what they did April 30th, 2022, at the first B Strong event. They raised twice as much as the set goal. 2022 also marked Brittnie as cancer free! Going forward with our annual B Strong Half Marathon we are ecstatic to see what this community can do. We hope to donate to more wonderful families in the years to come! We want to cross that finish line with a community of people who will fight for a healthier lifestyle, take happiness and joy one day at a time, and not take an able body for granted.