Nate Burns Melanoma

Cancer. Nate has cancer. My older brother Nate has cancer. My older brother Nate with three young boys has cancer. The words reverberated in my mind on April 16, 2019 as uncontrollable sobs racked my body.

Those words created a ripple effect in our entire extended Reese family. There was life before Nate’s diagnosis, and life after.

CANCER. An unwieldy, ugly word that will define our family timeline forever. Nate has been diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic melanoma. Skin cancer for a guy who rarely went to the beach.

THE ASK

Nathan Reese (born Sept 24,1977) is an amazing husband and father of three boys 10 & under, and in the spring of 2019, he was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic melanoma which has proved unresponsive to traditional immunotherapy treatments. So, at the ripe age of 41, our brother finds himself somewhere between the land of the living and the other side.

We are here to rally the many amazing people in Nate & Monica’s family, community, and beyond to provide much-needed financial support so that Nate can seek progressive treatment options with the hope of a cure. The medical bills are piling up with no end in sight in spite of Nate receiving 50% of his pay under long-term disability.

Monica also has a fantastic part-time job at a private school, but between managing Nate’s care and the rest of the household, she doesn’t have the bandwidth to work any additional hours.

Please help. Any amount is appreciated. Don’t wait—the time is now, and the need is real.




THE BACKSTORY

After vast and varied education and experience, Nate and his family landed in the beautiful and inclusive community of Kenmore, WA, where their lives have bloomed, and Nate & Monica have loved serving their community.

After seeking medical attention for intermittent back pain in June 2017, multiple rounds of physical therapy, several scans, cortisone shots, chiropractic consultations, and treatment by a spine specialist, in March of 2019, Nate was diagnosed with “chronic back pain” when his hurt got worse instead of better. Nate & Monica started exploring strategies to live with the pain. The back pain was severe enough that he used up all his sick time and the family bought a new car in the hopes that a seat with better back support would help as Nate commuted each day. All to no avail.

On April 14, Nate and Monica celebrated Easter with a delicious rack of lamb, and Nate’s pain levels spiked. He tried to manage it with Advil, but by Monday morning he knew it was too much. They went to minor emergency, and the doctor there shoo-ed them out the door, sending them to the ER. Within 2 hours, they heard the unbelievable: multiple masses in Nate’s abdomen, including a large one near his colon. In the words of the ER doc, “until someone tells you it’s not cancer, it’s cancer.”

Nate & Monica came to find out that the mass near his colon was the size of a large orange, and threatening colon function, with additional spots on his liver & pancreas. It was the pancreas that brought them in; apparently “stabbing stomach pain” gets you taken a lot more seriously than “severe back pain.”

TREATMENT

10 years ago, a stage IV melanoma diagnosis was a quick death sentence. It just doesn’t respond to traditional radiation and chemotherapy. But there is a new immunotherapy treatment with Ipillimumab and Nivolumab that is working miracles. The treatment is well tolerated, and when it works it’s amazing.

It takes a couple of weeks to get set up on immunotherapy, and Nate’s doctors were concerned that the inoperable big mass would block his colon, so they started an intense round of radiation therapy on it. Nate received an array of 8 doses each day for 3 weeks. Radiation is tough on the body. Nate’s pancreas was under control, mostly, but the large tumor rested on a bunch of nerves at the base of Nate’s spine and was very painful, so he started on some heavy-duty painkillers. Finally, he could get some relief.

After the radiation therapy, they could see that the large tumor was responding by getting less dense, which was just what they hoped for. The colon was not as threatened. It was time to start immunotherapy. 

Nate received 4 doses over 12 weeks. His pain levels stayed pretty constant, as long as they could keep his pancreas happy. Nate remained on the painkillers, unable to drive and pretty fatigued as well.

NOW

On Monday, July 29th, Nate went for a CT scan to check on progress. Two days later, Nate’s oncologist called to say he wasn’t happy with the results and he was referring them to the melanoma group in Seattle, part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Nate & Monica met with their original doctor on Friday, August 2nd to get the details, and it was devastating: Nate’s cancer has grown unchecked except for the mass near his colon that still appears knocked out by radiation.

For example, in just 3 months, the mass in Nate’s liver has grown from 2cm to over 7cm. The image of the huge mass is awful to witness. Surrounded by healthy liver tissue, the mass is inoperable and cannot be radiated. For now, Nate’s liver function is okay, but growth needs to be stopped by any means necessary.

Last Wednesday, Nate & Monica met with their doctors in Seattle and decided to apply for Nate to be in a promising clinical study in immunotherapy. This seems like the best option in a dwindling field. There is only one open patient spot left in the study. We hope and pray that Nate will meet the criteria and be accepted.  

Thank you for all your love, help, supportive messages and prayers. Nate & Monica, along with their three boys, continue to be well supported by their neighbors, church community, coworkers, and extended family.

The clock is ticking. Please donate today.

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