It’s Takes a Team to Make it Happens - Meleny

Please help! Meleny Gonzalez is currently fighting for her life. She was diagnosed with stage 4 DLBCL lymphoma cancer. According to the doctors, Meleny is in a critical stage, but as we all know prayers are powerful and are needed now more than ever. Please help this family through some of the hardest days of their lives. They need our love and support now more than ever!

Meleny is a 32-year-old young lady who lives in Delaware. She was living her life just like anyone else until one day, she was paying for her meal check - a friend notice she couldn’t sign the receipt, was having trouble articulating her words and was asked if she was okay. If anyone knows Mel, they would know that even if she were not okay, she would always say she’s “okay”. After arriving at home, she was taken to the nearest hospital (CCHS) with stroke-like symptoms. Where they had determined she had a mild stroke, but also found she had cancer in her brain after getting a CT-scan.

Initially, after multiple specialists, biopsies, blood work, no one could properly diagnose her because her condition was rare. Based on a biopsy that was obtained from her thigh, the biopsy results were in between Sarcoidosis or Lymphoma. On September 7, 2022, after her admission at CCHS, she was transferred to University of Pennsylvania, where the family was told, “the cancer Meleny has is aggressive”. Multiple MRIs revealed that she had a few tumors in her brain and in other locations. After multiple unsuccessful biopsies of her temple, liver; the doctors were obligated to go into her brain to obtain a tumor to diagnose her with stage 4 DLBCL lymphoma cancer. The family was then, told that she had DLBCL lymphoma in her intracranial brain (3 tumors were left due to location), brain stem, lung, and liver. After spending two months at University of Pennsylvania, Meleny was finally able to get discharged to Rehabilitation center for Physical therapy, Speech therapy, and Occupation therapy. She was in rehab for 6 weeks, where she re-gained how to walk (because the lymphoma in her brain and brain stem affected her motor skills to the point where she lost mobility on her right side of her body). The doctors place her on a one-year chemotherapy plan to deal the other lymphoma that was unable to get surgically removed due to complications.

She was recovering very well and went to her monthly (ten) chemotherapy in which she had a regular PET scan every 3 months. Somewhere between March and June, the oncologist told the family that the scan revealed that her cancer had spread aggressively to the liver, lungs and pancreas. On July 14, 2023, she was taken again to the ER, due to having possible seizures. It was then, confirmed that she was having seizures because the lymphoma in her brain had spread more. Immediately, family made a decision where Meleny received emergency radiation treatment to stop the lymphoma from spreading further in her brain. Again, everything was going well, scheduled to be released to a Rehabilitation Center to regain her used of her limbs again, since she lost mobility now on both left and right side. But unfortunately, her symptoms deteriorate on the day that she was going to be moved to the Rehabilitation Center, which was July 31, 2023.

The morning of her discharged, Meleny seemed flushed and breathing very fast and hard; it was decided by the oncology medical team to transfer her to the ICU at Hospital of Pennsylvania. She was immediately intubated (put on a ventilator); as she couldn’t breathe on her own and her blood pressure had dropped severely to the point where they had to put her on 3 blood pressure support to maintain a blood pressure. Mentioned by a few doctors, Meleny’s family was told that her condition was very critical. She had developed a severe pneumonia caused by aspiration that led to her body to go into septic shock hurting her kidneys and liver. Although, she is out of septic shock, she remains septic with a few new infections (c-diff, mssa, and a second pneumonia due to being intubated prolonged), febrile, and is in the conditions of where she takes 1 step forward but takes 3 steps back. Currently, it has been discussed to remove the ventilator and place a tracheostomy to help her breath.

Meleny is a well-respected State employee with over eight years of services. Her medical insurance is not covering all bills and she has a $3,200 deductible out-of-pocket. Her current medial bills are piling up since her monthly treatment is over $49,000. To add to that financial pressure, parents are 45 minutes from the hospital and travel expenses have taken a toll in her family going back and forth to the hospital. Also, her dad is not working to due to medical condition and her mom is staying with her at the hospital 24/7.

We are asking our family, friends, and friends of friends to consider contributing to her fund. All the money donated will be used to pay for medical and travel expenses to ease this burden.

From the entire family, we thank you so much for your love, kindness, and generosity. Your support will help to lift the financial burden and bring comfort to her parents. Your support will help make things a little easier as they face the biggest challenges in their life. Thank you for your continued prayers, love, and support.

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We will continue to stay strong and with family, friends, and prayer we can do this!