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Children's Mercy Cancer Research

Melissa’s Story and The Reason For Our Ride (told by Melissa)
The summer of '06 I was having problems with my back and legs.  I finally asked my doctor to do an MRI and on Sept 29th they informed me that they had found a spinal tumor.  I saw doctor at the time,  Dr.Beatty on Oct. 3rd and scheduled surgery immediately.  A week later I had surgery at Providence hospital on Oct. 6th.

During surgery is when I was diagnosed with the cancer. The tumor was located at the base of my spine.  The doctor told me if I had waited another couple days I would not have been able to walk.  I still have some numbness from my waist down due to the damage the tumor caused to my nerve endings.

I started chemo on Oct.30th, at the Kansas City Cancer South for three months.  I had it every month for three days in a row and finally finished that round of chemo on Jan. 5th, 2007.  Following the Chemotherapy, I then started radiation on my back in February.  It was every day until I finished on March 7th.  Everything was looking pretty good!  Things were finally back to normal, well as normal as they could be.

Then on July 15th, I went to the Eagles club to help with the horseshoe tournament and had a grandmal seizure.  I was taken by ambulance to Shawnee Mission hospital.  There they did an MRI on my brain and found two tumors that had traveled through my system.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.  I went back to the Kansas City Center and started radiation on my brain on July 18th and finished on Aug.10th.  When I went back to see Dr. Kent on Sept. 19th she told me one tumor was gone and the bigger one had started to shrink.  On Oct.26th when I went back to see Dr. Kent the tumor had started to grow again. Not the most encouraging news.

From there I went back to do Stereotactic radiation on Nov.13th with Dr. Lindstrom at Providence hospital. (Stereotactic radiation is where they send a large amount of radiation to just the tumor itself.)  On Dec. I went back to see Dr. Lindstrom and she told me the tumor had shrunk 25%. She said we would do another MRI  in Feb. to follow the progress. By the end of January,  I felt something was wrong, not sure what the something was. On Feb. 1st I went back to have an MRI and found out not only is the tumor now growing, but the other inoperable one had come back. Tough days ahead.
 
I went back to Providence hospital for brain surgery on Feb 7th this year. Dr. Beatty removed the larger tumor that he could reach successfully.  Dr. Lindstrom then did Stereotactic radiation on both the tumors on March 4th for five treatments ending on March 11th. 

I am writing this March 21st awaiting my next MRI on April 14th.

I missed out on a whole lot of rides and just riding because of my treatments this last year. This year I plan on riding every chance I get to make up for the time lost.  I hope you will all join me on my 1st annual poker run July 19, 2008. I will be donating the money we raise (all of it) to Children’s Mercy hospital.  They have a small cell cancer research program there that you can read up on here. 

Maybe together we can raise enough money so that they can find a cure one day.

UPDATE: 4-16

Well I wanted to keep you all updated on my progress. Here it is: I CAN DRIVE ! I haven't been able to drive all by myself since my seizure in July. I will tell you that it is very freeing. THANK YOU to all the people that hauled my butt around. I love you all!

I went to see Dr. Lindstrom on April 15th. She said my tumor has shrunk. It is not all gone, but we will check it in a month and see how it is doing. I will let you all know when I know. Until then ride safe.

Melissa

You will be missed Melissa - your positive attitude and your ongoing strength are inspiration to us all!