"I thought I would be so scared, but I had a lot fun," Brandon said. "It was a dream come true."
Brandon, 8, could use some fun after everything he and his family have experienced in the past 18 months. On April 17, 2016, Brandon was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He is being treated at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, and will continue to be until August 2018, when he'll be reassessed.
But with help from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Random Acts of Light program, Brandon was provided a tremendous distraction, even if for a few hours. On Tuesday, he was an Islander for a day.
The native of South Setauket, New York, had his own stall in the Islanders dressing room. He was invited to sit with the players during their meeting before practice. Then, with a No. 1 on the back of his jersey, he got ready for practice alongside his teammates.
His parents, Brian and Stefanie, watched from the stands. They haven't had many reasons to smile since Brandon was diagnosed, but they were grinning ear-to-ear Tuesday.