The ceremony was one of honor and recognition for extraordinary, life-changing service.
But just not for the person that everyone else expected.
Command Sgt. Maj. Joshua Brown, senior enlisted advisor of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team for the Indiana National Guard, had been tabbed to receive the Legion of Merit — a military award for outstanding services and achievements. Yet once the medal had been pinned, Brown turned around to honor two people he felt were the true heroes.
Dr. Lawrence H. Einhorn, a medical oncologist, and nurse Jackie Brames had treated him with compassion and care when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 19. Their example helped shape him for the rest of his life, Brown said.
“What I saw there was humility, grace and leadership — complete character. It changed me forever,” the Greenwood resident said. “It made me. It made the person that I am today.
“Dr. Einhorn and Nurse Brown are the real story. I’m just a product of their hard work. I am simply an end result or product of their competence and their care.”
During the Legion of Merit medal ceremony on May 12, Brown presented Einhorn with the medal, while giving Brames a lapel pin in recognition of her positive influence and hard work. The group gathered with family and military officials, sharing the emotional moment inside the IU Health Simon Cancer Pavilion.
“Josh, you have made this count, holy cow, what you have done as a soldier and human being is truly remarkable, this is probably the highest honor I have had in my life, and I’ve had a few honors,” Einhorn said during the ceremony. “This means so much coming from you.”
Brown, Einhorn and Brames all came together 24 years ago. Brown had just enlisted and was preparing for the start of basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, when his medical exam revealed a devastating blow: testicular cancer.
Just 19 years old, he thought his life might be over before it even started.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it to my 21st birthday,” he said.
Hours after the diagnosis, Brown went through an orchiectomy to remove his right testicle at Martin Army Community Hospital. CT scans revealed that the cancer had moved deep into his abdomen, so shortly after the initial surgery, he went through a more than 10-hour long retroperitoneal lymph node dissection to remove lymph nodes in his abdomen.
For the next phase of his treatment, he was sent to IU Health. There, he was placed under the care of Einhorn — a pioneer in the treatment of testicular cancer.
He was a young medical oncologist with an expertise in cancer drug therapy at Indiana University in 1974 when he started examining ways to treat the cancer. At the time, men diagnosed with the disease had about a 5% survival rate.
Within a year of arriving at Indiana University, Einhorn started testing a drug called Cisplatin, a promising medicine that by itself was found to be too toxic. He combined it with two additional drugs, fine-tuning the dosage to create a stunningly effective treatment — tumors would dissolve within days.
Together with surgical advancements, Einhorn’s work has helped raise the survival rate up to 95%; it is the highest success rate of any cancer.
Brown went through three rounds of the chemotherapy protocol established by Einhorn. Throughout treatment, Brames was by his side, helping him through the worst of the side effects and keeping him optimistic.
“They were amazing. They show up there every day, and they either save people’s lives or make a difference in their lives,” Brown said.
Brown made a full recovery, and went on to have a distinguished career in the military. He learned last year that he would be given the Legion of Merit, awarded to members of the armed forces for exceptionally meritous conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements, according to a release by the Indiana National Guard.
When he learned about the honor, he was asked who he wanted at the ceremony. Outside of his wife and two children, Brown could think of only a few other people close to him, including Einhorn and Brames.
“After I got off the phone and thought about Dr. Einhorn and Nurse Jackie, I thought, ‘I’m just going to give it to them,’” he said.
Standing together with his family, his peers and the medical professionals who had saved his life on May 12, Brown received the Legion of Merit medal. Traditionally, that would be the end of the ceremony, but Brown instead called the room to attention.
He removed the medal from his chest, while discussing the character, courage and capability that had been provided while he was a patient at IU Health Simon Cancer Center.
Speaking to Einhorn, he said, “I spent my entire adult life trying to earn and deserve what you gave me.”
Brown thought about his own children, and how even if he survived the cancer, he thought he’d never be able to have kids. Einhorn’s work made that possible, he said.
“My wife and two kids were there — two biological children when I was told I wouldn’t be able to have biological children. Those two children definitely wouldn’t exist if not for this doctor,” Brown said.
He hopes that his experience can focus attention on the work Einhorn and Brames have done for so many, and illuminate heroism here in our own community.
“They taught me the leadership of taking care of others beyond everything else,” Brown said.
