One month into seventh grade, 12-year-old Brendan O’Reilly discovered he had cancer.

The Meeker Middle School student went from playing the trombone, swimming and running to surgeries, chemotherapy and getting homework from counselors and Seattle Children’s Hospital staff.

“There was a mass in his testes that he never told us about,” said Brendan’s mother, Rachel O’Reilly. “It was just by chance that my husband noticed it. [Brendan’s] 12, he’s very private now.”

His parents took him to Virginia Mason Medical Center on Oct. 15, thinking it would be testicular cancer, but was told to go to Seattle Children’s Hospital and went through a “rash of tests” without a firm diagnosis.

“We scheduled surgery with the thought it would be seminoma but it came back to low-risk embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the muscle tissue or soft tissue,” O’Reilly said. “They had determined he was going to need two separate 12 weeks, so 24 weeks, of chemotherapy.”

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma in children and can begin in many places on the body, including in the head, neck, genitals or urinary organs. The five-year survival rate for Brendan’s disease, which is low-risk, is over 90 percent and most children are expected to be cured, according to the American Cancer Society.

“He definitely has to go through everything that a cancer patient has to go through. He lost his hair, he definitely looks like a St. Judes’ child, but they have told us that it is very treatable and he has a low cancer recurrence,” O’Reilly said. “We caught it at a good time.”

But, like many who experience cancer, the cost of treatment and all that goes with that can add up. O’Reilly’s co-worker Sarah Nelson heard about Brendan and wanted to help the family out during their hard time. The two work together at Calvary Lutheran Church in Federal Way.

“He’s such a great kid, first of all, but when you meet him, he puts his hand out, looks you in the eye, says ‘hello, my name is Brendan. It’s nice to meet you,’” Nelson said.

Nelson launched a fundraiser through Avon. Until Dec. 29, those who want to help can purchase Eduardo the Elephant, a stuffed animal, for $19.99 or $23.75 with tax and shipping and handling fees. All of the proceeds – $10 – will go toward Brendan’s fund and the stuffed animals will be delivered to Seattle Children’s Hospital where it will bring comfort to a sick child.

“It’s been hard to get the word out but when I talk to people, they are excited that this is practical, something they can do to help the children,” Nelson said. “It’s the first time I’ve held a fundraiser like this and they’re just a wonderful family and it’s been hard for them to accept help but they’re realizing now they’re going to need to.”

On top of chemotherapy for six months, O’Reilly has already undergone two surgeries. One surgery included removing the mass and the other removed his lymph nodes in his abdomen area. He had the first surgery four days after his diagnosis, with the following on Nov. 10. He was inpatient until Nov. 17 and has since returned home but makes the trek to Seattle every week for monitoring and chemotherapy.

“I work just part-time and I just started my job in September, so the time I’m missing is unpaid and the amount of travel time spending gas and mileage going to the hospital has been hard,” O’Reilly said, adding that her 9-year-old daughter has type-1 diabetes, which has been a handful as well.

Brendan recently acquired a nasogastric feeding tube because the chemotherapy made him nauseous and he lost a lot of weight. O’Reilly describes that experience has been a “learning curve” for her family.

“He’s a 12-year-old kid and he’s down in the dumps,” O’Reilly said. “It’s hard to tell him in six months everything is going to be good, which is what we’re hoping for.”

She said Brendan has been open about how he feels and at one point even told her that he was “in hell” during the third week of chemotherapy.

“It’s been pretty hard but I’ve been pretty thankful of people, that they’ve been helping me and I try to stay happy,” Brendan said. “Sometimes I get sort of sad about how hard everything has been …”

But Brendan’s cat Zelda and dog Clover help keep his spirits up during this hard time. Playing video games, drawing and reading also help, he said.

O’Reilly said she feels blessed to have gotten the support from the community, who has donated to her son’s gofundme.com account, the fundraiser Nelson is doing, the letters from Brendan’s classmates and those who have brought over meals.

This year for Christmas, the O’Reilly family will stay in northeast Tacoma instead of making their regular journey to Oregon.

“I think, for us, it’s really getting through all of this so we can hopefully get back to our normal life,” O’Reilly said, adding that the simple pleasures of going to the beach as a family is something she looks forward to after Brendan beats his cancer.

To purchase an elephant for Brendan’s fundraiser, visit www.sarahshop.info/brendans-fund.html or donate at www.gofundme.com/eb83guzq.