My sister and I decided that this Christmas we would surprise our mom by dedicating this GoFundMe Page to help pay for any medical expenses she has accrued in the last year  ~  2 cancers, 5 surgeries, multiple hospital visits, doctors appointments and the extensive list of medications. 

This is our moms story  -
As most of you may know, our mom was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, as well as, stage 3 thyroid cancer this past year. 

It all started in February when she had a suspicious mole on her back. After her dermatologist confirmed it was melanoma, she underwent her 1st surgery in March to remove the tumor on her back, as well as a lymph node for a biopsy. Once it came back cancerous, she underwent her 2nd surgery the next day, removing the cancerous cells and 8 lymph nodes in her groin. After the following pet scan, her Oncologist had noticed something on her thyroid. After another biopsy, it was confirmed.. Thyroid cancer. 

Fast forward to June, she underwent her 3rd surgery to have a total thyroidectomy and most of her cervical lymph nodes removed. Since they weren’t able to get all the smaller cancer cells, she had to go through a round of radiation. Although this entailed a month long, low iodine diet (which was not easy), before she could take the radiation pills. After taking the radiation pills, she had to quarantine in an RV by herself for a week. 

A couple weeks go by, and she is scheduled to have a brain MRI, which was apparently long overdue. On September 10th, she received the news that the melanoma had spread to her brain resulting in 2 small tumors. After we thought we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, there was yet another bump in the road. On October 7th, she underwent her 4th surgery, receiving Gamma Knife Radiation to her brain to remove the tumors. 

Unfortunately, her blood test results came back confirming that she is in fact susceptible to melanoma, and has what’s called the BRAF gene. Because of this finding, they prescribed her chemotherapy medications to be taken everyday for five years. 

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, a month goes by to November 2nd, and our mom started to feel ill. She ends up spiking a 103 fever, and was experiencing flu like symptoms. She ends up going to the hospital and is immediately admitted for her high temps and dehydration. About a week goes by, after multiple blood tests, chest X-rays, a CT scan and a brain MRI, she continued to spike high fevers. They ended up giving her severe antibiotics, morphine, norco..any drug you could think of that required hospitalization. Thankfully she was COVID negative, but they had found out that her gum infection that she had recently been trying to take care of, (side effects of chemo drugs) caused a systemic reaction, and her body went into shock. Finally after being discharged, she now she has to forego her 5th surgery on her gums this mid November, which is going to cost her thousands of dollars...

On a more positive note, after she was hospitalized, we now know that her body is not able to fight off an infection like we thought she could. As for that, we are all more mindful about social distancing and hand hygiene around her. Not to mention, after having the brain MRI in the hospital, we can confirm that the brain tumors are no longer there! 

To say the least, my mom has had one of the toughest years she’s ever had to endure. As most of us can concur, that this year has not been so kind to most of us. Our mom is never the one to ask for anything and she is always the one giving. Since she is unable to work due to her diagnosis, and since her husband had to take a pay cut due to the pandemic, we will be doing the giving this time. As for that, we want to be able to give her something that will bring her spirit back to life, something that shows she’s not alone in this whole process, and that she has more love and support surrounding her than she can imagine. 

We are also not ones to ask anyone for anything but any little donation or even a message, will go a long way to show how much we love and care for Tracy Revelle. 

I hope everyone stays safe and healthy during this crazy time and to always love, give, and support your family, friends, neighbors, and strangers, because you have no idea what they could be going through. 

Thank you all so much for visiting this page. Happy Holidays ♥️

**P.S. Please keep this a secret as it will be a surprise on Christmas Day. We will record and post the video to Facebook.