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Melissa’s Story

Site created on March 17, 2019

Welcome to Melissa Bahnmiller's CaringBridge website. Her loved ones are using it to keep family and friends updated throughout this unexpected and incredibly difficult time. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Melissa (age 28) had a perfect, uneventful pregnancy that culminated with the birth of Isabelle JoHannah on January 13, 2019.

Postpartum, Melissa began to notice intermittent leg pain. Her pain became more frequent and worsened as her maternity leave progressed. Over the following weeks, she saw her OBGYN doctor, a family practice physician, and finally a chiropractor.

On March 8, with excruciating leg pain, her husband, Jake, and her mother, Sonja, took Melissa to the Bemidji Sandford ER for evaluation. A CT scan revealed she had metastatic, stage 4 cancer with a abdominal mass and lesions in her kidney, liver, pancreas, and bone. She was immediately hospitalized for pain control, insertion of a tube into her kidney, and a biopsy.

On March 19, Melissa was diagnosed with pleomorphic high grade sarcoma, a rare and fast spreading soft tissue cancer best treated at Mayo as an inpatient with chemotherapy. Melissa was immediately transferred from Bemidji to Rochester, MN for continued pain control and treatment of this aggressive cancer at the Methodist Campus of Mayo Clinic Hospital.

Jake has been a constant source of strength and comfort to Melissa from early in the mornings and throughout the long, and often painful, nights. Both are thankful for the loving care of their parents, Scott & Sonja Pelland and Mike & Sallie Bahnmiller, in providing for the daily needs of little Isabelle, just barely 2 months old. Isabelle's visits to the hospital have proven to be great medicine for Melissa's spirit.

For the foreseeable future, neither Melissa nor Jake will be working. For those that wish to donate financially, your support will help meet the growing list of needs during this critical period and remove the added strain of immense medical bills and lack of wages for this young family. Melissa's GoFundMe site: https://www.gofundme.com/melissabahnmiller

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, for your hope and love. It means so much, and will make all the difference for Melissa, Jake, and their families.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Sallie Bahnmiller — Apr 21, 2023

Melissa has been experiencing a bit more fatigue, tiredness and shortness of breath with exertion. She and Jake have been in contact with her Mayo oncologist and they will discuss these increased symptoms when she visits Mayo this week. Fortunately, we were able to get Melissa on a Marvin Windows flight to the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning and back to Warroad on Friday evening. Thursday, she will have lab work done and her oncology and palliative care office visits. Friday, she is scheduled to get her nephrostomy tube replaced. These tubes are routinely changed every 3-4 months.
Thank you for your prayers for pain control and healing. For those of you who are interested, we have raised Melissa's GoFundMe goal to help cover continued financial costs of living with a long term illness, travel for treatment and lack of wages as Jake acts as the primary caregiver for Melissa and 8 month old Isabelle.
Donations can be made on Melissa's GoFundMe site: https://www.gofundme.com/melissabahnmiller
or sent directly to their home address at 34198 585th Ave, Warroad MN 56763. Thank you for your continued support during Melissa's battle with cancer.

Read More of the journal titled " September 30, 2019"

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