Again, now-14-year-old Ben Brewer is facing a round of chemotherapy to tackle his neuroblastoma. However, this is a more powerful treatment than the ones he's faced recently.
The combination of chemotherapy and antibody therapy will be so taxing to his body that he is staying at Children's Hospital Colorado. He will be hooked up to a pain pump for six days so that he can remain comfortable.
Ben knew it would be tough when he agreed to take his cancer fight to this next level.
"His doctor asked him if he wanted to stop treatment, and he said 'Nah, I still have stuff to do here,'" Ben's mother Sarah Brewer said.
As 9NEWS has followed Ben's journey with this persistent cancer over the years, this young man's wisdom and courage has constantly amazed everyone.
Ben was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the adrenal system, when he was just 2 years old.
It's the kind of cancer that always finds its way back.
9NEWS introduced Colorado to this red-haired and freckled-faced boy in October 2014 as he was fighting his fourth bout of neuroblastoma. Since traditional therapies and radiation had done little to wipe out his cancer for good, Ben chose to have liquid radiation injected into his body.
It worked. The next month, there was no evidence of cancer in his body.
Ben was hoping to join a clinical trial of a drug that would prevent the neuroblastoma from returning. While he waited, he underwent a rigorous therapy out-of-state which he hoped would keep him cancer-free.
In September 2015, Ben learned the cancer had returned in multiple spots throughout his body.
Ever since, Ben has endured regular chemotherapy treatments as an outpatient at Children's Colorado but to no avail.
In fact, Ben's disease has progressed.
"The chemo isn't doing its job," Ben's mother Sarah Brewer said. "We need a meaner one."
Ben started chemotherapy Monday at Children's Hospital Colorado. Tuesday, his doctors will introduce antibody therapy.
An antibody can be positioned to hook onto certain parts of a cancer cell. By essentially marking the cancer cell, the immune system can attack it more aggressively.
"Using the body's own immune system to fight cancer is a relatively new approach in fighting stubborn cancers, like Ben's neuroblastoma," Dr. Meg Macy said.
Dr. Macy specializes in fighting cancers that recur in patients at Children's Colorado.
"Antibody therapy has been used for several years in neuroblastoma; only very recently has it been shown that adding chemotherapy to antibody therapy may do an even better job at killing the cancer," Dr. Macy said.
"This is not a fun option but the best one we've been presented so far," Sarah Brewer said.
Despite the concern for her son, Sarah Brewer still holds on to faith that he will persevere.
She recently wrote this in a blog:
"I believe he WILL overcome. He wants it so badly... He still (as he says) has "stuff do to" in this lifetime. He's becoming such a neat young man right before my eyes. I couldn't be more proud of his strength and destination and his ability to love and accept."
The Brewer family has learned that this specific therapy Ben is facing this week will be tough on his body, specifically his platelets. They are encouraging people to donate blood for all the kids at Children's Colorado who are in need of transfusions.
To get regular updates on Ben's journey, follow the "I Love the Bean" Facebook page.
