Melissa Johannsen Memorial

As some of you may have heard, we lost an amazing woman a little over a week ago. Melissa was a bright spark in this world and will be deeply missed. She touched the lives of so many, and it’s our turn to give back to her family in their time of need, with a sudden and unexpected loss of income. We are raising money to assist with unexpected and uncovered costs, household bills, as well as the time off of work as the family deals with this loss. Anything we can do as a community to help such an amazing woman’s family is appreciated. If you would like to make an in-person donation instead of an online donation, there is an account set up under “Melissa Johannsen Memorial” at Citizens 1st National Bank in Storm Lake.

Here is a little back story on the last couple of years of Melissa’s life that so many of you may not have known everything she had gone through:

Several years ago, Melissa was diagnosed with Diabetes, but she has always been a fighter! In 2020, Melissa’s health started to go downhill and became quite the roller coaster of events. She was sick for most of the year. She wasn’t about to get correctly diagnosed in 2020 due to Covid rates and no available vaccines. On her birthday in January of 2021, she fell while she was walking in her home with a walker. It was the middle of a blizzard, and EMT had to be called. They provided lift assistance and helped her back into her chair, where she pretty much stayed until she went to the Storm Lake hospital on Feb 3rd to receive some care. She was transferred to Omaha after a week's stay in Storm Lake. She had lost her muscle movement and was diagnosed with a condition called Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (Dermatomyositis.) She had little movement in her legs and had some trouble using her arms as well. She spent another week down there in Omaha, to then be transferred to St. Luke’s in Sioux City. Her stay there lasted until Feb 28th. She was then released to Methodist Manor nursing home in Storm Lake, where she spent almost 100 days. During her stay, she went through extensive rehab through Sports Rehab and did physical therapy at the nursing home as well. She was FINALLY able to come home on Memorial Day weekend. After returning home, she continued to go to physical therapy to help regain muscle. She graduated from a walker to a cane and was getting around pretty well with that. She even made a much-needed trip to Lincoln to see her daughter Calli the last weekend in September. Just as Melissa was finally getting around more and starting to feel good, things took another turn. At the beginning of November, she went to Dakota Dunes to get a wound on her leg checked out that would not heal. They did a biopsy on the skin and determined it to be cancer. She had the procedure to have the skin removed and was deemed cancer-free at the end of November. As if she had not been through enough, on Jan 2nd, she became ill at home and went to Storm Lake hospital, where she was diagnosed positive with Covid. She came back home that evening, and things began to worsen over the next couple of days, so she was admitted back to the hospital on the 4th. She stayed there until the 8th, when she was discharged to go home. She had a follow-up appointment with her primary medical doctor three days later, on the 11th. She was then AGAIN admitted the following day to Storm Lake hospital, where she was then diagnosed with post-Covid pneumonia. She put up a fight for days but ultimately succumbed to her illness on her 62nd birthday (January 15, 2022), surrounded by her beloved family.