My name is Cassie Albers Way, the aunt of Mekayla L. Albers, the young lady for which this Go Fund Me is being set up for.

At this point in her life, she as of October 26th of 2022 was diagnosed with Stage 4 BRAF negative melanoma over her right eye.

On November the 9th 2022 she underwent a 12-hour surgery to remove the cancer. Her right eye was removed along with a 3-inch square piece of her skull all the way to her brain. Two of Surgeons that performed this part of the surgery said they do not believe that the cancer had invaded her brain. A titanium wire mesh along with some kind of putty was then used to reconstruct the bone that was taken away from her skull. A patch of tissue 10 inches by 5 inches long with an attached vein and artery was then removed from her right shoulder and reattached to the right side of her face.

She is currently undergoing immunotherapy, which she will be having for up to 2 years. On top of this she is preparing to undergo 6 weeks of 30 radiation treatments. She has been told by the Dentist working with her team that she, because of the radiation, will lose the use of her right saliva gland. Two lymph nodes were also removed from her cheek and neck.

Her team of doctors believe that the cancer has not spread down her body past these two lymph nodes.

After four to nine months of healing, after her last radiation treatment, she will undergo her facial reconstruction surgery that will include a prosthetic eye. How many surgeries this will take we are unsure of at this time.

She is a beautiful, artistic, strong and loving young woman of 22 years and while at times despondent and a crab monster, (LOL) is holding up well under the circumstances.

As to the total financial cost of all of this and the support she needs while she is not working, we don’t know at this time. Fighting cancer cost can be and are out of this world. That is why I have started a Go Fund Me for her.

She lives in Columbia, SC and her Doctors and treatments are being done in Charleston, SC, which adds to the cost due to travel and hotel time. We are at this time are trying to use the resources of the American Cancer Society, Hope Lodge, in Charleston for her six weeks of radiation treatments. Hopefully this starts on December 5th..

Any donations with be greatly appreciated.

So some people will ask, how did we get here?

It started with a little bump to her head in 2021 caused by contact with the edge of a dresser. A nondescript place over her right eye. Nothing to be concerned about? She was even in a cousins wedding in October of 2021. A little bit of makeup and she was good to go. She wanted to go to the doctor but in her mind she did not have insurance and to her it was a little thing and the cost of a Doctor when your making 10.50 dollars an hour was cost prohibitive.

In January of 2022 she did get insurance thru the ACA and made an appointment to see her primary care doctor and of course it was several weeks until she could get in. He looked at it, x-rayed it and sent her to a local surgery practice that was in her network. They did a ultrasound, a cat scan, and eventually a needle biopsy and of course each one of these was basically another appointment.

On October 17th 2022 the results of her needle biopsy were posted to her My Chart. She did not realize it was posted and did not give it a thought because she was then recommended to a head and neck surgeon that was in her network. We later found out that the needle biopsy should have raised a red flag for an almost immediate surgery, but it did not. The needle biopsy contained spindle cells. Spindle cells are cancer or a precursor to cancer. At this point in time the tumor was a little bigger that about half of a walnut.

She met with the new surgeon, and he sure did not act like it was a big deal because he held her off from surgery for 3 months because she did a little vaping and then later for another 2 months because of a cat scratch and because she vaped twice within this three month period. In August, he scheduled her for surgery and then canceled it 3 days later and said he did not have the resources and could not provide her with anything past the surgery because he was getting out of her insurance carriers’ network. He referred her to a Head and Neck surgeon that was outside of her insurance network. By this time the tumor had grown to the size of about half a baseball and was growing into her eye socket. My parents, her Grandparents during this 5-month period, when the one doctor held her off, had also taken her to the emergency at 2 different local hospitals 3 times. One saying it would be unethical to treat her because she was under the care of another Doctor. The other sending her to places outside her network. No matter what we did, she kept being refer by her insurance company right back to the same doctor who fundamentally did nothing while this tumor over her eye kept getting bigger and bigger. It eventually grew to the size of half a soft ball and covered her right eye.

Enter the new Doctor outside her network that really got the ball rolling. He met with her and said he would operate in one week and then called her in for a biopsy on October 18th, which he sent off to Harvard medical in Boston Mass.

The results came back on October 26th and another Doctor stepped in, a woman Doctor. to give us the totally unexpected bad news of her biopsy. The diagnosis was BRAF negative stage 4 melanoma. Her right eye, part of her skull around the eye socket to her brain, and a large patch of her facial skin, from the bottom of her eye socket to her forehead would have to be remove, the extent of which would not be totally known till during the surgery. She was told by this Doctor to change insurance companies within the ACA. Which she did.

Mekayla was recommended to a team of Doctors in Charleston, SC that work out of Trident Medical Center and a immunotherapy Doctor that works out of the Roper medical system.

She had a Pet Scan in Columbia on October 28th and had her operation on November 9th .

We are grateful to her new team Doctors in Charleston and to the two Doctors in Columbia that took the bull by the horns and got everything rolling. She was told she has this team of doctors for the next five years. She even has a, go to, coordination nurse that she can call anytime. Her primary care Doctor has set her up with an online counselor to help her with her mental health. She has had a couple of sessions already and said that it helps.

Again, I would like to say any donations would be gratefully appreciated towards Mekayla’s ongoing fight with cancer. Heartfelt Thank You from the Albers Family!