Mount Vernon graduate Summer Brand in remission after three months fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (KCRG) - During her six rounds of chemotherapy, Summer Brand was an assistant coach for the Mount Vernon softball team, and was in Fort Dodge when the Mustangs took home the state title.

“She went through chemo the day before and that knocks you out pretty hard,” said Robin Brand, Summer’s mother and Mount Vernon softball’s head coach. “She walked up and i knew things were gonna be okay no matter what.”

Summer’s younger sister Kameron was also on the team, which won Mount Vernon’s first softball state title.

“As soon as they won that last pitch I ran out there and hugged my sister,” Summer said.

The biggest win though came later in September. Her doctor told her, after 12 weeks of chemotherapy, Summer was in remission.

“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Summer said. “Both my parents were there and they started crying and my doctor starting crying.”

“All the people just saying prayers and being with her, I think really helped getting through that,” Robin said.

Summer says she will go back to her doctor every six months for the next five years for checkups.

She’s planning to go back to college in January. This fall, she’s courtside scoring Mount Vernon volleyball games, getting to watch her sister and mother (Robin is an assistant coach) try to hang another banner in the Mount Vernon gym.

Kameron Brand remembers watching Summer win a state title for the volleyball team in 2019.

“She’s been my role model,” Kameron said. “That’s given me something to look forward to and something I strive to be every day.”

“She means a lot to the girls on the floor,” Robin said. “She’s someone where (when you) see what she’s done, you can do anything.”

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