From Donor Hero to Cancer Warrior: Help Josh

Hi, my name is Rebekah Southard, and I am one of Josh Brown’s sisters. As many of you know, Josh was my hero 18 months ago when he was the perfect donor for my bone marrow transplant. Well, it is my turn to try to help Josh. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma January 23, 2025. He is about to undergo his cancer journey, and since I can (unfortunately) speak from experience…I am asking you to please help Josh and his family as they navigate these next 6-12 months.

Josh and his wife, Erin, live outside of Minneapolis, MN with their 8 children. As you can imagine, their house is always humming. With Josh having to take off work, exhausting PTO, and fighting through an aggressive treatment regimen, my experience tells me that the first thing people think is, “How can I help?” Honestly, the very best thing is prayer, good thoughts, positive energy, and all things good sent their way. The second is… help to offset medical costs. As everyone knows, insurance is amazing, but it does not even come close to covering all the costs that are about to descend upon them.

Think what you might about this page, but denied testing, denied labs, denied drug co-pays, denied treatment can and are things that happen with insurance, and the expenses add up fast. Not to mention the cost of gas for trips back and forth to treatment, unexpected hospitalization because of infection, and the like. For anyone else who has had any type of health crisis, I know you understand.

Thank you for hearing me out. I care so much for Josh and his family and I just want to help. I was fortunate to have so much support when my cancer journey started, and I would love to see the same generosity and love shared with Josh. Pray about it, think about it, reach out to Josh or Erin if you have questions or want to help. We need Josh to feel the love and support from all of us. He is truly one of the kindest, selfless, most loving people I know. Please consider helping him and his family.

Thank you!

- Rebekah