November 25th, 2010 at 2:00 pm, Melissa took her last breaths in the arms of her family. She now will be in the arms of her mother, who we know was awaiting her with open arms. We are extremely grateful to tell you Melissa was very peaceful and in no pain in the end. Melissa was truly a spirited warrior and fought to the very end. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you all for all your love, support, and caring for Melissa through her battle.
For those of you who don’t know her story, in October of 2008 Melissa started feeling pain in her tailbone. Through Thanksgiving and Christmas she was feeling pain in other various places in her back, and by January the pain had become so severe that she had to be admitted to the hospital. The doctors initially thought she had Valley Fever, so they performed a series of tests and found out that the pain was actually being caused by cancer. It had metastasized (spread) into her bones including: the vertebrae, pelvis, scalpula, ribs, and long bones.
Melissa was diagnosed with Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). NSCLC’s make up about 75% of all lung cancers. The type of NSCLC she has is Adenocarcinoma, which is known to be most commenly found in women and people younger than 45 years of age. Adenocarcinoma is the number one cause of death from cancer and there currently is no FDA approved cure.
