Brandon Lane Phillips - When I Wished upon a Star: From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts

Endorsements

Your story is so compelling quite the faith-builder, as you share the many ways God is so personally involved in the details of your life! These are beautiful stories of your own humanity and suffering, beyond your physical suffering, in relationship to your father. So many of us have daddy issues that affect us from childhood all the way into our adult years. I think many will be able to relate. I know I did.

L ISA W HELCHEL , A CTRESS , A UTHOR , & L IFE C OACH

For anyone who has ever questioned the creativity and beauty of Gods plan, When I Wished upon a Star is the perfect read. This story truly touches the soul.

J ONATHAN H ORTON , O LYMPIC G YMNAST & A MERICAN N INJA W ARRIOR

The connection between Phillips and the sitcom star is legitimately intriguing, and readers...might see the hand of God at work in this story. An earnest, inspiring memoir for Christian readers and fans of Growing Pains.

K IRKUS R EVIEWS

Brandon Lane Phillips, MD

&

Jeremy Miller

2018 Brandon Lane Phillips, MD & Jeremy Miller

When I Wished upon a Star

From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

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This book reflects the authors present recollections of experiences. The names and identifying details of some individuals have been changed to protect their privacy. Some events have been compressed, and some dialogue has been re-created.

The authors are represented by Ambassador Literary Agency, Nashville, Tennessee.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pre-Launch ISBN 978-1-595558428

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018948920

ISBN 978-1-595558411 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-595558565 (Hardbound)

ISBN 978-1-595558114 (eBook)

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Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

D EDICATION

For our mothers,

Carolyn Wagoner Phillips

and

Sonja Sonny Southworth

C ONTENTS

B ack when TV was on only three channelsABC, NBC, and CBSI was playing Mike Seaver on the set of Growing Pains. The cast and I were meeting kids with cancer and other serious illnesses week after week through several wish-granting organizations. One day a young boy with a heart defect visited our setnot to see me particularly, but to visit my fellow castmate, actor Jeremy Miller, who played my younger brother Ben Seaver on the show. Little did I know that his wish to visit the set of his favorite sitcom would later result in him becoming my trusted friend, middle-of-the-night family doctor-on-call, and an inspiring man of faith whose life story continues to amaze me. In When I Wished upon a Star, Brandon Lane Phillips and Jeremy Miller bring together many seemingly random circumstances to form a beautiful tapestry of love, friendship, hope, and healing.

My dear friend Jeremy Miller could have easily become just another Hollywood statistic were it not for the divine intervention of a God who cares, honors wishes, and, yes, answers prayers. I cant wait for you to read how Brandon and Jeremys lives intertwined and unfolded to bring them to where they are today!

Neither I nor Jeremy knew it at the time, but for some reason, Mike Seaver and his little brother Ben were supposed to be lifelong friends with a kid from Louisiana with a heart condition. Years after Growing Pains had ended, I reconnected with Brandon while I was on a movie set in Canada. To be honest, I didnt know what to expect. After all, Brandons wish to visit the Growing Pains set was because of his ailing heart, and I wasnt sure he would even be alive after all of these years. I certainly had no idea of how his life had taken such an amazing turn and become a dynamic example of Gods love, power, and evensense of humor!

Brandon has since become our familys 2:00 a.m. on-call doctor, calming my dad-nerves when my kids are sick (and I cant get hold of our local physician). Brandon is known to our six children as our funny friend from a town in Louisiana with a funny name (Trout), who sends them funny Southern books (A Cajun Night Before Christmas and A Texas Night Before Christmas). Over the years, I have jokingly told the kids not to feed Brandon bacon because bacon would make him oink and squeal uncontrollably due to the fact that he has a pig valve in his heart (true fact! ). I thank God for Brandons friendship on a personal level, and for the way he blesses my entire family and others through his kindness, compassion, and excellent medical practice.

I know youll enjoy reading about his incredible life and how his and Jeremys friendship grew into an unbreakable brotherhood. Some of it you wont believe because the apparent random coincidences seem improbable. But, of course, nothing is impossible or random with God. Get ready to laugh, to cry, and to find yourself in a new state of beliefor disbelief! Brandons story isnt average or ordinary because Brandon isnt ordinary. Hes extraordinary. He believes that God loves him, and he believes that God loves you, too. Hes a brilliant medical doctor who loves people, saves lives, comforts thousandsand knows that only the Great Physician could have written the story you are about to read. Enjoy!

Kirk Cameron

A CTOR & P RODUCER

I s there an order to the universe? I guess so, because otherwise the story of Brandon is one in a random billion. Among the greatest gifts in my life of entrepreneurial philanthropy have been the people I have been privileged to meet. None better than this extraordinary man, Dr. Brandon Lane Phillips. Our Starlight Foundation granted his wish to visit the set of Growing Pains in the 1980s, when he was a little boy battling heart problems and a poor medical prognosis. In founding Starlight, there was nothing more complicated in our ambition than to bring happiness to children and their families saddened by their medical condition. We put the child in charge and gave them the steering wheelcontrol and agency amid an otherwise disempowering and bewildering array of tubes, tests, surgeries, and sterile rooms. So it was that Brandon got a Starlight boost of self-esteem by meeting the stars of his favorite show. But who could have known that this was to be a gift that would go on giving for over three decades? And who could have known that the little boy with a defective heart would grow up to become a leading cardiologist? Our world is mysterious, but, for me, often wonderful to behold. I am humbled and delighted that we could help Brandon find his destiny. And if we were channeling some higher force, what an honor!