Jim & Selyna Coleman Cancer Fund

Hello, we are Selyna Coleman’s aunts and uncles Tim and Kathy Eyrich and Wendy and Chris Wendel.  We are here to introduce you to her and her family and request your help. 

Selyna and Jim Coleman, who were high school sweethearts, are in the prime of their life and careers, parents to 3 children: John, senior in high school; Samantha sophomore; and Jace in 7th grade. This humble couple are an exceptional parenting team and have been the rock for their big extended families. Selyna is an extraordinary organizer for her family’s schedule of sporting events and school activities, often including those of her four nieces and nephews. Jim is our quiet, gentle giant. He coaches his children’s teams, attends every one of their events, and discreetly boosts their confidence (e.g., writes affirmations on paper plates while putting together their lunches every morning).

As Selyna recently told me, “Jim and I do everything together.” Romantic, yes, but that togetherness recently took a dramatic turn, which is the reason we are setting up this fund.

Jim has been battling metastatic melanoma cancer for 2 years, mostly while continuing to work and be there for his family. However, the last 6-9 months has been extremely tough the recurrences required intensive treatments. In the middle of his worst illness requiring care, Selyna was been found to have breast cancer--a “togetherness” no couple wants to have. Selyna’s treatment decisions clearly reflect her priority: “How best can I get rid of the cancer so I can continue being our family’s primary caregiver?” A couple together and individually making selfless decisions. 

The financial toll of cancer can break any person but imagine dealing with 2 family members receiving cancer treatment? At this point Jim and Selyna have a large medical debt and expenses times two. We want to provide them with some financial relief so they can heal with less stress and resume their focus on their kids. Thank you ahead of time for anything you can do.

Below Jim and Selyna share their cancer journey in their own words.

As many of you know, in May of 2017 Jim had a mole removed just under his ear lobe, it came back as melanoma, had surgery same month, everything was looking good until January 2019.  He found out that the melanoma was now in neck lymph nodes.  He started Immunotherapy March of 2019 and in April 2019 intense radiation at this same time I found out that my pacemaker needed to be replaced, so while Jim had his cancer treatment, I got a new pacemaker. It was a rough 6 months but in mid-July 2019 Jim received his pet scan results- no cancer! We celebrated with getting a Coonhound mix who we named Bandit.

Jim’s protocol was to continue with immunotherapy and quarterly scans. In November 2019 Jim had his first scan, the scan found a spot on the surface of his neck, the melanoma had metastasized. His treatment was then changed to daily chemo pills and a new round of radiation. We were hopeful they would work.

Unfortunately, in March 2020 they found a spot in the frontal lobe of his brain. Jim started an extremely aggressive immunotherapy with a week of radiation to the spot in brain.  The immunotherapy was so aggressive, that by the 3rd  dose of 4 (June of 2020),  Jim was in and out of the hospital (I won't get into the frustration of them not “fixing” him sooner). On June 29th we had to call for an ambulance, Jim was dying.  He was admitted to the ICU in kidney failure. Being that COVID 19 was raging in Arizona we could not see him, advocate for him or be by his side. He was in ICU for 4 days.  Once they had him stable, they moved him to the Oncology floor, where he stayed in the hospital an additional 4 days. The ICU staff and Oncology staff were great with him especially considering the hospital was busy dealing with the pandemic. Jim has now been home for a month and improving everyday but still very weak and still having stomach issues.

 During all this we were dealt another blow, I went in for my routine mammogram Mid-March of 2020, and by the beginning of April I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma-Breast Cancer.  I was scheduled for a bilateral mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy on June 30, 2020, but that was cancelled because insurance would not approve the Plastic Surgeon, I found this out as my husband was being admitted to ICU. It ended up being the best thing possible since Jim was so sick. There is no way I would have been able to handle me and him.

So now after getting everything straightened out with insurance I have been rescheduled for August 12th. Depending on the outcome of this surgery and whether the cancer has spread beyond the breast depends on what treatment I will get, the minimum being 5 years on Tamoxifen with quarterly scans.  Jim has had a treatment since being home to reverse his immunotherapy meds (remicade) and will have one more.  Unfortunately, Remicade has not been fully approved by insurance and is thousands of dollars but it is a critical medication to get his gut working correctly. So not getting it is not an option. We also just received our first notification from insurance letting us know that there is a possibility that not all of the expenses from Jim’s hospitalization will be paid for because of out of network services.

We are now becoming overwhelmed with medical bills and are not sure what we will end up owing. Jim has been labeled as “in remission” since his latest scan (July 2020) was clean of any cancer. BUT we still have a long road ahead of us.  Making sure I am able to recover successfully and continuing to get Jim back to his strong self. His Oncologist says it will take Jim 3- 6 months to start to feel normal. Once Jim’s body is strong enough, he will discuss with his Oncologist whether he will need additional treatment. We are emotionally and mentally spent but we continue to smile because we still have each other. We are super grateful and thankful for everyone's prayers and positive energy. It has really helped us pull through.

With lots of love,

Selyna & Jim