Honor Brian's Legacy: Support Kate, Audrey, and Oliver

Let me tell you about my brother. I’m choosing to talk about him in the present because that’s what Audrey wants. He’s the best dad and husband I’ve ever known. He’s also an amazing son, friend, Taunton High School art teacher, and Celtics fan. If you ask him about Jaylen Brown, be prepared for a rant about him throwing up bricks. He despises idle time and will squeeze in yard-work during a 15 minute halftime while watching the Patriots. He loves taking the kids on “adventures” which regularly include fishing, cooking lessons, beach trips, animal sanctuary visits, ropes courses, rides in “the beast”, bike rides, and a myriad of other activities. His entire life is dedicated to his family. He took incredible pride in choosing the most sentimental gifts for Kate and loved ones. Outside of that, he’s been known to have the best gifts for the friends’ annual Yankee Swap, indulge in hot weenies and cinnamon buns, play basketball with his high school buddies, and make to-do lists all day long. He also earned himself 3 college degrees and considered himself a lifelong student.

In June of 2023, Brian (or BK as many of you know him by) went into the hospital with stomach pain thinking it was an ulcer and came out with a diagnosis of an extremely rare cancer known as Cholangiocarcinoma (Bile Duct Cancer). The odds were stacked against him from the jump as he was diagnosed at stage 4 due to this cancer hiding until it had metastasized. Brian started chemo and immunotherapy on a Wednesday and was building the kids a treehouse to surprise them with on Friday. That is the kind of dad and human he is. Brian had really positive treatment results until he started having headaches in April of 2024. In May of 2024 he was hospitalized and a spinal tap revealed that his cancer had an almost unheard of spread to his spinal fluid (known as leptomeningeal disease). This is a dire cancer metastasis where most patients only live weeks after symptoms start. In true Brian fashion, he had a shunt inserted to drain the fluid from his skull to his stomach and pushed on to keep living. He wrote a paper to finish one of his educational licenses, he applied to a doctoral program, he and Kate took a cruise with the kids to Alaska, and he completed numerous house projects with many still on his “to-do list”.

Unfortunately, we’ve reached the end of this battle. Brian was hospitalized 3 weeks ago and they revised his shunt. That helped for a week and he was able to watch Ollie test for his blue belt 2 hours after he was discharged. He was then hospitalized again and they operated to replace the entire shunt so that he would be able to be released to see Audrey perform in her play that she’s been working so hard for. Not only did he see the show; he made it to all 3 days! Brian was also able to see Ollie be awarded his blue belt a week after his test and even had a sibling dinner (per his request) with Adam and I on Saturday night. However, late Saturday the head pressure came back again and on Sunday night he needed to be readmitted to Mass General. At that point, we just needed to manage his pain and keep him comfortable. The staff at MGH have been amazing over these last 2 years and have given us time that we didn’t necessarily think we’d get. Thanks to Kate’s sisters being nurses at MGH and overall amazing humans, we were able to have the top oncologists on Brian’s case. We all spent the day with him on Tuesday, and even though he was mostly sedated, he opened his eyes when we were getting ready to leave, said ‘hi everyone’, and gave us two thumbs up when we told him we all loved him. That’s the way he would have wanted to say goodbye. At 6:45 am this morning, he passed peacefully with Kate by his side and Chrissy by hers.

Brian has done so much for so many and he made me promise that I would ensure Kate and the kids would be taken care of. He asked that, when the time comes, I organize a GoFundMe to ease the financial burden that comes with a single parent household. Kate has been the biggest blessing to my brother and our family and we could never thank her enough for everything she did for him-both in sickness and in health. Brian’s life insurance plan will not completely cover funeral expenses which deepens the financial strain. We have been outrageously supported by friends and family these last two years and could never repay the amount of kindness and love we’ve received. I’m here to fulfill my brother’s wish of taking care of Kate, Audrey, and Ollie to the best of my ability. Anything donated, big or small, would be so appreciated, but please know that there are no expectations. Your support through these difficult times is what has been invaluable.

Brian’s wishes were to have a wake and then a Celebration of Life where people can tell stories of how they knew him. We will be working on all of that and it will most likely be held after the April school vacation week so that everyone who wants to attend is able to.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for loving our family and for caring so deeply for Brian.

Love,

The Kreizinger, Steele, Thurston, and Ruehrwein families