Teen Cancer Survivor Honored at Roseburg Golf Benefit

When Brynlee Roberts started seeing double at age 11, her mom thought it might be nothing. An emergency MRI revealed a brain tumor that would change their Winchester, Oregon family forever.

Within days, Brynlee was at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland undergoing surgery to remove the mass. Three days later, doctors confirmed it was cancer.

The treatment plan was grueling. Brynlee spent seven weeks in Seattle getting daily radiation treatments designed to kill cancer cells while protecting healthy tissue. The side effects hit hard: her throat swelled so much she couldn't eat, exhaustion overwhelmed her, and her hair fell out in chunks.

"My dad gave me a buzz cut and because so much hair had fallen out there were bald spots, so my head kind of looked like a cow," Brynlee said. "Now thinking back on that, I wasn't laughing then, but now that was pretty funny."

Her ability to find humor reveals the remarkable spirit that carried her through. While her parents understood the gravity of her diagnosis, young Brynlee stayed focused on getting through each day. She didn't fully grasp how close she came to not coming home until months after treatment ended.

Five years later, Brynlee is cancer-free and working hard to recover abilities affected by treatment. Vision, hearing, and learning challenges remain, what her dad calls "the ripple effects," but regular checkups show the cancer hasn't returned.

School took a backseat during treatment, and Brynlee missed most of sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Now a junior at Roseburg High School, she's making steady progress catching up academically while managing ongoing medical appointments in Portland every four to six months.

Sunny's Take

What stands out most isn't just Brynlee's courage. It's how an entire community wrapped around the Roberts family when they needed it most.

Members of their church in Roseburg brought meals and cleaned their house. Neighbors sent care packages to the hospital. Someone even started a GoFundMe to help with mounting travel and medical expenses. The Douglas County Cancer Services provided crucial local support, even though Brynlee had to travel hours for every treatment.

"It was really neat when Eric came home to get us a change of clothes and he had packages and baskets to take back up to the hospital," Sara Roberts remembered. Those small acts of kindness sustained them through the darkest weeks.

Now Brynlee will be honored at the Roseburg Benefit Golf Tournament, a celebration of both her resilience and the community that refused to let her family face cancer alone.