The first Mayo Clinic patient to receive proton beam therapy in Minnesota finished her treatments Monday morning.

Twenty-three-year-old Jessica Brenholt was the first person to receive the treatments for her brain tumor at Mayo’s new Proton Center.

Proton beam therapy is a type of radiation doctors recommend for young people and children because it targets hard-to-reach tumors without damaging other, healthy organs in its path.
After six weeks of treatment, Brenholt walked in for her last session on Monday.

“It’s not as scary as you think it might be,” she said.

Her positive and uplifting attitude goes far beyond tumor treatment.

“I never thought I’d be going through this at 23 but I can’t imagine going through this at eight, like with Evie,” she said of one of her new young friends.

Evie can frequently be found at the proton center, too. Like Brenholt, she is also battling a brain tumor.

“It’s a bond I’ve never had between anyone else in my life,” Brenholt said about her relationships with others receiving the treatment.

“It was awesome!” Evie said about participating in Brenholt’s celebration marking the end of her treatment. Evie still has two weeks to go.

“I’m excited to move on and start my life again but I’m really kind of sad,” Brenholt said about saying goodbye to her new friends. “It’s kind of bittersweet.”

From high fives to hugs, everything about this day is something for patients, like Evie, to look forward to experiencing themselves. Especially the final step: ringing the recovery bell. It sits on a wall near the entrance to the exam rooms. You may not notice it unless, of course, you’re a patient. Then, it becomes all you can see in the waiting room.

The bell signifies the end of treatment and Brenholt chose to ring it with another friend from treatment, Ashley. If there was ever a reason to ring noise through those quiet halls, that was it. The two girls rang the bell together three times, and they both walked out with smiles on their faces.