Hello, as many of you already know, and for those who don’t, Calla, my wife, was diagnosed with Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, in July. We weren’t really sure what we were dealing with until the doctor said she would have to go to MD Anderson. That’s when it hit Calla and myself that this was something serious.

She had surgery in August, which was a success in getting it all out of her leg, but it’s only the beginning. We were told that the cancer had spread to 2 lymph nodes and that the stage of the cancer is 3C, with it also being Metastatic Melanoma.

She starts immunotherapy on October 1st, which will last at least 1 year to fight the cancer. I’m 100 percent sure we will win.

During the 1 year, she will also have MRIs and PET scans every 3 months, and then after 1 year, it can be bumped to every 6 months depending on how the treatment is doing.

The only issue we are having is that the cost of it is extremely high, and my health insurance will only cover so much. With the surgery, scans, and all the appointments she has had, not to mention the amount of work I have taken off, the cost of everything is already piling up.

We don’t ask for much, only just a little bit of help with the cost of surgery, appointments, scans, and treatments in the future. Calla will beat this, no question; we just need a little bit of help.

I know a lot of people think (which I myself was one) it’s just skin cancer, cut it out and move on. That couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s a very aggressive cancer that can spread to other organs in the body if not taken care of and caught early.

With that being said, it is also one of the most curable cancers with the right treatment.

Please, everyone, take care of yourself and take all the precautions when out in the sun for prolonged periods of time.

We will beat this; we just need some help in doing it.

Thanks,

Casey Nowotny