Help Melanie During Chemotherapy and Smile Again

About Melanie: Melanie is a 28-year-old woman that is passionate, caring, resilient, and generous with her love but has been unlucky for way too long; longer than most of us could endure. Starting from childhood, Melanie has been unfortunate related to health issues and personal hardships. For nearly two decades starting from her pre-teen years it has been a battle for Melanie to smile and it’s getting harder and harder for her each day to find a reason to smile. This has caused her to break into tears frequently, loose hope and tremble in fear as any of us would. The heartbreak of smiling: Melanie has a genetic condition that causes high levels of acidity in her body that leads to rapid tooth decay that has now destroyed 14 of them since the age of 7. Simply brushing her teeth causes damage and will occasionally chip them. Some teeth have fallen out in her sleep. The cost for dental work for the existing issue and to fix previous botched work will exceed $45,000 plus maintenance costs and additional replacements over time. Smiling is something that most of us do with ease and take for granted but for Melanie it's her living nightmare endured each day for over 20 years. For a young woman that is vibrant and has much love to give I could only imagine that this feels like her world is crumbling - giving little hope that she will once again be able to smile confidently.  Adding Physical Pain to Her Emotional Pain: Recently, Melanie has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. She is unable to work most of the time, has bills piling up and is worried that her future will be bleak. She works when she can but it’s taking a toll on her health and progress. She has some good days but chemo is a feeling of fire and ice shooting through your veins. The feeling is probably best described as hell entering into your body causing vomiting, loss of appetite, lack of energy and body pain that will bring you to your knees. Beyond the physical trauma of it all the emotional hell that it creates is wearing down her hope and desire to make it through this; it’s her daily nightmare. How could it get worse? Imagine going through the worse moment in your life, not being able to have your family support you due to unfortunate reasons, and getting treatment on your own making you feel isolated and helpless. During the moments when I hug and console her, the trembling from her fear ricochets through my body and it’s the most horrible feeling I have ever felt. The Cost of Healing: Melanie has much healing to get through both physical and emotional. She’s one hell of fighter - more than anyone I know. Melanie has no: savings, company benefits or steady income to pay for necessities and panic is starting to set in. Programs for assistance have been set in motion but it’s taking more time than she can afford and the assistance is drab at best. It’s hard without support, her monthly drug cost is above $250 per month, add the costs of rent, food, taxis to the hospital, over the counter medications, and other expenses and it just seems impossible for her to manage. She is hanging in by a thread and its painful for her and loved ones. Money won’t buy her health or happiness but it will allow her to focus on healing and not worry about money during the worst time of her life. What Can We Do? Melanie’s dream and only birthday wish from an early age has simply been to smile. Let’s make her hardships end now and turn her only birthday wish into reality this September. If you cannot donate for any reason it would mean the world to Melanie and her loved ones if you could repost this GoFundMe page https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-melanie-during-chemotherapy-and-smile-again  on your social media. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this post and provide support in any way that you can.