Alaskan Bush People went to a couple pretty dark places on Wednesday night.
First, the family continued to deal with the tragic fact that Ami Brown has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
The last time we checked in with this Discovery Channel family, patriarch Billy had told his kids that the cancer was Stage 3, but doctors were in the middle of determining whether it was Stage 4.
Which would mean Ami really does not have much time remaining.
The illness is so serious that most of the Browns left Alaska many weeks ago in order to be with Ami while she sought treatment in southern California.
On the latest installment of this reality series, we learned more about said treatment.
“Ami’s hurting pretty bad,” Billy told viewers. “We’re in for probably a lot harder road than we’ve ever faced. There’s no doubt about that.”
Unsure exactly what the doctors had told them about what’s on tap for Ami, the family asked one of the show’s producers to interpret the news they received at UCLA Medical Center.
“The radiation is 5 days a week for 6 weeks,” Sheila McCormack therefore explained, adding:
“After the radiation, once a week she goes to the other building and they put an IV in her and she gets chemotherapy for four hours.”
“What’s going on now is the most difficult thing we’ve gone through because of who it’s happening to – because it’s mom and because of what it is,” said son Bam on air.
“It makes a house burning down or a boat sinking or needing 5 stitches no big deal. This is really difficult. I don’t even know what to say.”
Ami may also need to go on a feeding tube because she’s down to 94 pounds and doctors say she needs her strength to fight the cancer.
“All the things that we’ve overcome, all the obstacles that have been in front of us, taught us that whatever lies ahead, as long as we keep faith in family and God, we’ll be alright,” said Billy, clearly and understandably shaken up over this awful news.
Elsewhere on the episode, Matt nearly died.
Left alone in Brownton about two months ago because his family was by Ami’s side, Matt was found injured in a home explosion.
The event took place when cameras were not rolling, but they picked up the action after medics arrived on the scene and found Matt bleeding from the head.
“This is bad, man. He doesn’t look good. Safety, prep for an evac,” a production member was head yelling at one point while Matt was heard screaming “Oh my God!”
According to a TMZ report at the time this incident took place, Matt had filled a mason jar with gunpowder and cannon fuse and stored it in his refrigerator.
It then exploded, blowing the doors off this kitchen appliance and into Matt’s skull.
Back in California, already concerned about their mother, the kids were told that Matt was also in the hospital.
“I don’t know what happened. I know that Matt was alone in Brownton and I can only imagine how heavy that must have been and the kind of mindset that would put you in,” said Bam.
“I don’t want to speculate. I just know that he was trying to keep up a strong, brave front for everybody and I think he just cracked a little bit.”
Matt ended up getting airlifted to a hospital in Juneau, where he was placed in intensive care.
A few days later, he touched down in Southern California and told Bam that physicians used nine staples to close the wound on his scalp.
“I’ve gone through all this, bro. It’s a lesson: life is fragile,” said Matt to his sibling “The bush’s rule one, the moment you take your mind off everything, is the one that it get – and it got me.”
“It didn’t get you,” replied Bam. “It almost got you. You survived and that’s the important part.”
Let’s hope the same ends up being true for Ami.