In April of 2015, Andrea “Andy” Luna, a 31 year old wife and mother of two sons, was diagnosed with Stage 3B Cutaneous Melanoma that later metastasized to Metastatic Melanoma, and over the past 11 months, she has fearlessly battled this deadly disease along side her loving family and friends with inspirational spirit and bravery.

This is the heroic story of Andy’s ongoing battle against cancer:


After her initial diagnosis, Andy endured numerous invasive surgeries on her head, neck, and upper body to remove the cancer from her skin and lymph nodes. Optimistically, her doctors thought that the surgeries had successfully removed all of the cancer, and after completing 12 weeks of follow-on immunotherapy and radiation treatments, her PET scan confirmed that she was indeed cancer-free.


Most certainly everyone celebrated and rejoiced in this wonderful news. However, two weeks later during a routine follow-up appointment, her doctor discovered a small lump under her breast, and after conducting a biopsy of the mass, Andy and her family received the horrific news that the cancer was back and much, much worse than before.

After conducting a multitude of tests, the doctors determined that the cancer had not only returned, but it had spread to nine other locations in her chest and lungs. In response to this diagnosis, Andy immediately underwent emergency surgery followed by another 16 weeks of immunotherapy in hopes that the remaining cancer would respond to this treatment. Unfortunately, the cancer did not respond to the immunotherapy, but instead it continued to spread throughout her body, moving to her head, neck, and bladder.

Faced with the aggressive nature of her cancer and ineffectiveness of her current treatment plan, Andy and her family made the difficult decision to undergo the strongest cancer treatment (InterLeukin 2), a type of extremely high risk immunotherapy that could result in death and would require her to be hospitalized in the ICU for the entire duration of the procedure.


With her dear husband, Robert, by her side and her loving family watching over her two young sons at home and camped out in the hospital waiting area, Andrea underwent the procedure, painfully enduring the one side effect after another as her body struggled to make it through each infusion of the treatment. And, although her courage and spirit never faltered, her body could not continue to endure the highly invasive procedure without risking certain death or long-term debilitation of her vital organs, so the decision was made to discontinue the treatment after completing 4 of the 12 infusions.


Consequently, Andy was prescribed steroid treatment to counteract her extensive lung damage, caused by both her cancer and her last immunotherapy treatment, and after recovering in the hospital, she was finally able to return home to be with her family and friends.


She is currently in hospice care, battling her cancer at home as her doctors wait to see if the 4 infusions of her last immunotherapy will have any effect against the disease. Due to the extensive damage to her lungs caused by the cancer and her immunotherapy, she is extremely weak and on a constant supply of oxygen. As such, she now requires round the clock in-home care.
Andy is a Navy Veteran that honorable served her country as a Culinary Specialist (CS) with the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40, commonly known as the “Fighting Forty.” After completing her first tour in the Navy, she decided to discontinue her active duty military service with her husband Robert Alamillo, a 12 year active duty Navy Veteran that continues to serve in the Navy Reserves and works as a Civilian Military Instructor, to focus on raising their two wonderful sons, Christian (10 yrs old) and Geovanni (9 yrs old). Once her two sons were older, Andy attended college and earned a degree in Animal Health Care, and is currently employed by the USDA as Veterinarian Technician that administers animal disease control to farms.


The prognosis of Andy’s recovery is not good to put it gently, and her time left with us is uncertain. This GoFund Me page has been established to raise $20,000 to pay for the cost of the in-home care she now requires on a daily basis for at least six months.

Any help you provide for this wonderful mother, wife, and friend loved by so many that proudly served her country would be greatly appreciated.