As many of you know I was diagnosed with melanoma (skin cancer) in 2012. I had surgery to remove the cancer from my scalp and was cancer free until last year (fall 2015) when it returned in my neck. I had surgery again to remove all the lymph nodes from my neck a little over a year ago. Six months ago a CT scan showed that the melanoma had metastasized to my lungs. I’ve done two kinds of therapies since. The first was ineffective; the second I had to stop because of side effects. Now the cancer has spread to multiple organs including my lungs, liver, spleen, spine, and subcutaneous tissues. The next step is a clinical trial at the NIH, hopefully starting next week.
If any or all of this is new to you, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to tell you personally. It’s not easy telling people bad news. This has been a fast paced journey with many twists and turns and it’s been a challenge for me to keep track of who knows what.
My family has started a blog for me to keep family and friends updated on what’s going on. We don’t want to clutter your inbox or social media feed with blast email updates. It's our hope that this website will help me share my journey with you in a way that also allows you decide how much information you get and when. You can choose to sign up for email notifications when there are new updates, but also feel free to just check the blog whenever you feel like it. You may notice the website, CaringBridge, also requests donations. Please feel free to ignore those requests, as we have already established a recurring donation.
CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.
