Melissa’s Chordoma Skull Bone Cancer Care Fund
Donation protected
As many of you know, my youngest sister Melissa Graham was diagnosed this fall with an extremely rare tumor in the base of her skull called a Chordoma and under went surgery to remove it on October 23rd at UCSF as there are only a handful of doctors that are qualified to handle Chordoma. Lab results have confirmed it to be the rare malignant bone cancer. Doctors are optimistic that they got all of the tumor however Melissa has a long road ahead of treatment as these types of tumors have a high propensity of returning and if they do they tend to metastasize.
She is currently on strict bed rest. She can not look down, sneeze, hold arms above her shoulders or put any pressure on the brain. Her recovery is slow and it’s taken a lot out of her. Two weeks after surgery she went back to UCSF for recheck and spent time in ER to remove nasal packing (surgery to remove tumor was done going in through the nose) and replace with disposable packing. She also has splints in her nose. The tumor had grown through the posterior protruding toward her spinal cord and there was a spinal leak at time of surgery. They were able to repair to stop the leak thankfully.
Once she’s healed she will undergo specific targeted radiation treatment. She will find out soon from oncologist which type of radiation she will need. There are two types it could be but the most common for Chordoma is daily Proton Beam therapy and there are only two locations within California that offer this and not near her. Locations only in Loma Linda & San Diego. She would have to pay to stay two months at a VRBO during her treatments.
The costs Melissa & Pete have had to pay out of pocket have been seriously mounting and there’s much more ahead for them and they’ve completely depleted their savings.
Melissa’s husband Pete has had to take weeks out of work on FMLA and they have already lost about $7k with him not being able to work.
They have already incurred out of pocket $3,700 between numerous days of S.F. hotel stays near UCSF, gas & food travel costs, surgeon consults, medications, lab work, brain mapping MRI scans & imaging etc.
They will have thousands more out of pocket for the VRBO stay and travel expenses for her radiation as well as they don’t know yet how much out of pocket they will be billed for the extremely expensive tumor removal surgery she underwent and the upcoming radiation treatments. (The type of Radiation treatments she will need alone can run up to $120k)
Anything you could possibly donate to help Melissa & Pete with expenses is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your continued prayers and positive thoughts!
She is currently on strict bed rest. She can not look down, sneeze, hold arms above her shoulders or put any pressure on the brain. Her recovery is slow and it’s taken a lot out of her. Two weeks after surgery she went back to UCSF for recheck and spent time in ER to remove nasal packing (surgery to remove tumor was done going in through the nose) and replace with disposable packing. She also has splints in her nose. The tumor had grown through the posterior protruding toward her spinal cord and there was a spinal leak at time of surgery. They were able to repair to stop the leak thankfully.
Once she’s healed she will undergo specific targeted radiation treatment. She will find out soon from oncologist which type of radiation she will need. There are two types it could be but the most common for Chordoma is daily Proton Beam therapy and there are only two locations within California that offer this and not near her. Locations only in Loma Linda & San Diego. She would have to pay to stay two months at a VRBO during her treatments.
The costs Melissa & Pete have had to pay out of pocket have been seriously mounting and there’s much more ahead for them and they’ve completely depleted their savings.
Melissa’s husband Pete has had to take weeks out of work on FMLA and they have already lost about $7k with him not being able to work.
They have already incurred out of pocket $3,700 between numerous days of S.F. hotel stays near UCSF, gas & food travel costs, surgeon consults, medications, lab work, brain mapping MRI scans & imaging etc.
They will have thousands more out of pocket for the VRBO stay and travel expenses for her radiation as well as they don’t know yet how much out of pocket they will be billed for the extremely expensive tumor removal surgery she underwent and the upcoming radiation treatments. (The type of Radiation treatments she will need alone can run up to $120k)
Anything you could possibly donate to help Melissa & Pete with expenses is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your continued prayers and positive thoughts!
Organizer and beneficiary
Laurie Blizzard
Organizer
Modesto, CA
Melissa Graham
Beneficiary