Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Hi, I’m Emma Joseph, and I’m reaching out to you to support Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Every day, countless patients and their families come to VUMC seeking hope and healing, and we have the chance to help them through this crucial work.

As a nonprofit organization, VUMC depends on the generosity of our community to continue providing exceptional care and support. Your contributions will make a real difference by:

• Enabling advanced patient care and innovative treatments for those facing serious health challenges.
• Supporting training and research initiatives that empower healthcare professionals to provide the best possible care.

Together, we can ensure that VUMC continues to be a beacon of hope for those in need. Please consider donating to support this vital mission. Thank you for your kindness and generosity!

2020 has certainly been a year to remember and has me feeling more grateful than ever for another trip around the sun. For my birthday, please join me in giving back and paying it forward. Your support will go directly to those in need at the same facility I was treated for cancer earlier this year: Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Thank you in advance for your donations and reading about my journey below. 

This past April, while pregnant in my second trimester, I was diagnosed with Melanoma. I had a spot on my arm that started to change. Despite hearing and reading that skin changes are common in pregnancy, my gut was telling me to get it looked at. After a televisit with my derm she had me come in that afternoon for a biopsy. 

About a week later, while in the middle of a maddening quarantine day, I got the call - "You have cancer".  It was the strangest thing and still so sobering now when I play it back in my mind. I was coming out of the shower, the phone rang, had a voicemail from the Dr. and knew when the Dr. themselves call it's not the best sign. While Mark played upstairs with our daughter, I called back at my kitchen counter. 

My dermatologist (Dr. Sites) was so kind and empathetic explaining these are not conversations that are usually done over the phone, but #covid. She told me to grab a pen and paper and we started to go over the results and next steps. After 15 minutes my teeny tiny envelope was covered in what would become my new cancer vocabulary. Telling my husband was so scary, but even more difficult was calling my parents with the news. 

The next few weeks would be a waiting game. There were additional tests being run to help determine staging and characteristics of my cancer and it would be a month until I'd meet with my surgical oncologist. She felt it was best to operate after I delivered to avoid early labor and limit risk to the baby.

My OBGYN  (Dr. Heidemann) was a godsend through this all. When I gave her the update at a OB appt, she shared that Melanoma is one of the few cancers that could be transferred from mother to baby through the placenta. For the remainder of my pregnancy I'd need to see a MFM specialist who would keep an eye on the baby and check placenta for any abnormalities. Together we decided to induce at 37 weeks (full-term) to decrease risk of melanoma traveling through placenta and to allow me time to recover from delivery before gearing up for the cancer excision. 

At 5 weeks postpartum, we scheduled surgery. The team at Vanderbilt and my oncologist Dr. Kauffmann were thorough, kind, and reassuring. My big question was "how will you know you got it all?". Dr. Kauffmann told me exactly what they would be measuring and how we'd know we had clear margins. The photo above it when I woke up from anesthesia -- tears in my eyes asking the Dr. if they got it all -- "Yes, we got it all and pathology will confirm this in a few days."

Because of all of my incredible doctors and early detection, I was fortunate to not need chemo or immunotherapy. Your donations and support will go toward ensuring those at Vanderbilt can continue saving many more lives.

More information about Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Through the exceptional capabilities and caring spirit of its people, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt lead in improving the health care of children and communities regionally, nationally and internationally. We combine our transformative learning programs and compelling discoveries to provide distinctive personalized care.