Melvin Harris Manahane 

Or known to most as simply “Mel” and to his colleagues as the humble Assistant Chief or Smooth for CPA - Ports Police. Better yet, he is also a team warrior SPARTANS of Saipan to all his friends.  

To me, he has always been my loving partner whom I have shared a life with for over 18 years and my loving husband for eternity.  

He is the best father I could have ever imagined for our two children, Andrew and Melady. I have always admired him as a role model for our children – strong willed, hard-working, loving and caring.   

Although he is the 2nd born out of a family 4, he has always been the rock for his siblings taking care of their needs and one of the devoted caretakers for his parents.  

To me, this man has always been simply amazing.

Humble in all that he does and generous in all that he gives to our family and to others. 

These 18 years have been built on the foundation of trust, commitment and pure adoration for each other.  Most of all, it was built on love.  

I could not have asked God for a better partner to live this life with and I look forward to spending more years towards forever with him.  

His Walk Towards Being Cured: 

It was in March 2019, when Mel noticed a white colored patch on the right corner of his lip. He thought to himself that it might just be a cold sore cause it started to form what looked like a burn with water inside of it.  

He quickly dismissed it because he was away for training in Texas for his firearms instructor recertification at the time. It wasn’t until about a week later, he realized that the lesion never went away and his fear started to form.  

Once he arrived back on Saipan, I quickly prompted him to make an appointment to get his lip checked. Mel tried to schedule a dental appointment, but unfortunately, they were fully booked.

We tried again and again, even in May 2019, we heard about a free oral cancer check-up screening at our local hospital, but again, we were too late to book an appointment by one day. 

Thankfully, in the last week of August 2019, Mel and I called the dental clinic and they were able to squeeze him in for a screening within two days of the call.  

When the day finally came, the dentist performed their 30-minute assessment and he was quickly referred him to SDA clinic. By the grace of God, the timing could not have been better as SDA had a Specialist from California who was visiting during the time. Mel managed to meet the Specialist on September 9th and the next day, he was scheduled for a biopsy.  

In two weeks following the biopsy, we were scheduled to see an ENT (ears, nose, throat) Specialist and although it was hard news, we finally knew that the lesion on his lip was diagnosed as “pre-cancerous”. Mel was recommended to remove the lesion as soon as possible.  

It wasn’t until 28 days later after the news that Mel entered into his first surgery on Saipan where they removed the lesion and took more samples for testing.  

A week later post-surgery, we received another call from the doctor where they revealed more distressing news – the samples taken from the surgery revealed cancer cells.  

After another 2 weeks (on November 5, 2019), Mel was re-entered into his second surgery after a short amount of time. This is where the doctor removed the right corner of his lip and inner cheek area.  

After a successful surgery, he received another call from the ENT and was given the good news that the area that had been removed in the 2nd surgery had no traces of cancer cells left.  

In February 2020, Mel went in for his 3-month checkup and the ENT did a biopsy on the area inside my mouth and once again, the samples came up negative.  

Cancer Free.

I watched Mel remain faithful to attend his every 3-month checkups with the Oncologist and ENT. During these visits, they would check his CT scans and blood work to ensure that they were monitoring his progress.   

As the year went, we were met with another trial we needed to overcome.

On November 16, 2020, another biopsy was ordered by Mel’s doctor for the same area that was checked in February.

On December 2, 2020, the result came in from the biopsy from a month before.

Cancer cells were back.  

We were shaken.

We could not believe it.

Here we are again.

But we knew we needed to move forward and conquer this.  

The ENT specialist began the paperwork for Melvin to go on medical referral. By the next day following the appointment, he was approved and we were set leave on December 28, 2020.  

Before we made our way to California, we solidified our commitment to each other and were officially wedded at St. Jude Church on December 26, 2020. This was not only the beginning of our journey towards recovery, but our journey as husband and wife.  

In sickness and in health, like we promised.  

We have officially arrived in Los Angeles, California and are surrounded by an amazing medical team here at the USC Keck Hospital.  

After a number of appointments and follow ups, we are blessed to say that Mel is now scheduled for his operation here on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 (California Time).  

More updates to follow as his surgery draws near.  

We believe that this journey that Mel is on has so much purpose in it. We believe that God chooses His warriors – and SPARTANS – to go to battle for the greater good.  

We believe that he has overcome this before and he will again by the grace of God.  

Walk with us as we continue this journey towards full recovery and join our fight.  

We thank each and every one of you for your constant prayers, donations, and kind words of encouragement. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts – from our family to yours.  

God bless all of you,

 

Addy, Melvin, Andrew, Melady, Harris-Manahane Family, Quitugua-Cabrera Family, and friends.