BROOKLIN, Maine — A local teenager who has been battling brain cancer for nearly the past four years passed away from the disease on Sunday.
Brandon Lee Higgins, who just graduated this past spring from Deer Isle-Stonington High School, was 19 years old.
Higgins was diagnosed in January 2011 with an inoperable tumor on his brain stem. Initially given a life expectancy of 18 to 24 months if the tumor was left untreated, Higgins decided to have radiation therapy. He missed several months of school, but the tumor shrank and became inactive. He resumed classes at the high school and monitored the tumor’s status with MRIs every three months.
This past spring, the tumor became active again and started showing signs of growth. Higgins started getting regular chemotherapy treatments and was receiving treatment at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor when he passed away.
An attempt Wednesday to contact Higgins’ mother, Louanne Higgins, was unsuccessful.
Soon after his diagnosis in early 2011, Higgins and his family were treated by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to a trip to Los Angeles so they could attend the 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend. Higgins, a big Celtics fan, came home “exhilarated,” according to a Bangor Daily News article, after he and his family got to watch the game from a luxury skybox, got to meet some current and former NBA players, and collected more than 40 player autographs.
Higgins was a special spectator this past spring at a different sporting event closer to home. O.J. Logue, an administrator and a veteran marathon runner, ran in the Sugarloaf Marathon in Higgins’ honor, raising several thousand dollars for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
According to Higgins’ obituary, a viewing will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home on Franklin Street in Ellsworth. A funeral ceremony is planned for 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, at Deer Isle-Stonington High School, with Pastor Stephen York of Stonington Methodist Church officiating. Interment will be at Mount Ephraim Cemetery in Brooklin with a reception to follow at the Brooklin School.
Contributions in Brandon’s memory may be made to the Brandon L. Higgins Scholarship Fund, c/o First, P.O. Box 1664, Blue Hill, ME 04614; Make-A-Wish Foundation, Suite M1, 477 Congress St., Portland, ME 04101; or to Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, 654 State St. Bangor, ME 04401.
