For the past several weeks, Alaskan Bush People viewers have been concerned and curious about the status of Ami Brown.
We know she has lung cancer.
But is it Stage 4? Is the tumor inoperable? Is she confined to a wheelchair? Just how much time does she have left?
Lying in a hospital bed in Southern California, where she was transported this summer in order to receive the best care possible, Brown recently opened up to People Magazine after her illness.
It’s clear she’s in very poor shape.
“It hurts. Everything hurts,” Brown tells the publication.
The long-time reality star’s throat is raw from the radiation, and she’s dropped from 128 pounds to 89.4 pounds.
Based on the aggressiveness of the cancer, Billy Brown says doctors have told the family that survival statistics for someone in Brown’s situation are as low as three percent.
But Ami remains as optimistic as one can be given her circumstances.
“I realized early into this that it’s very easy to want to give up and just die. And on the pessimist side, it could be my last days,” she says. “But I have the will to fight.”
Ami’s health struggles have been at the center of Alaskan Bush People Season 7, which wraps up this week on the Discovery Channel.
It sounds as if an eighth season is on tap, but the Browns will not be residing in Browntown if/when it airs.
In this exclusive Q&A with People, Brown says she first felt pain in her back last fall. She thought it was just arthritis… until a scan was taken in December.
As you can tell by some of her quotes here, Ami is handling the diagnosis in courageous fashion. Her kids, however?
“They have to strengthen their wings a little,” she says to People, adding:
“There are good days and bad days – for them and for me. But they handle their emotions pretty good. There are days that they have to talk about it and then talk about it again.
“I have faith that they will remain strong.”
Brown says she wanted to do the People interview in order to help others with cancer.
“I was nervous as a cat the first time I went in for radiation. I hope if people watch the show and see what I’m going through and it will take away a lot of their fear.”
What an admirable reason for speaking out.
Does she ever think about dying? Does she ever concern herself with what happens next?
How can she not, right? On occasion, at least, right?
This is what Ami says about the prospect of passing away:
Worrying about it only makes it worse. There is hope and that hope is having faith in God. You can’t give up. I tell people be happy. Just be happy. It’s a choice.
Things can be hard and you just want to curl up but you have to shine.
We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to Ami Brown and her family.