Michael will be traveling to MD Anderson, in Houston, every three weeks to receive aggressive immune therapy to treat Stage 4 Melanoma cancer that has spread to his lungs.  He will be incurring medical and travel expenses.   Please feel free to donate to this cause!!!

The story from Michael's eyes!
I am ONE of 76,100.

October 2014, after noticing a change in what appeared to be a birthmark for as long as I can remember on my upper left abdomen, I decided to make an appointment with a dermatologist. After a full body scan and a few biopsies later, I got the call that the spot had come back positive for Advanced Melanoma. To say the least, it was a shock to me and avoiding all the medical terminology…it was deep, aggressive, and I needed to have surgery to have it removed ASAP.  Being diagnosed with Melanoma was the furthest thing from my mind at the time and especially considering the location under my chest. On November 6th I had some “fun” test and surgery to remove about a cue ball size area from my chest and had a lymph node biopsy preformed leaving behind a 8” reminder across my chest. The Melanoma spread into the lymph nodes under my arm and a lymph node dissection removed the remaining lymph nodes (25+) from under my arm and chest area in an aggressive move to stop the spreading to other parts of my body.  

On September 18, I went in for a lung biopsy.  The Melanoma has spread to my lungs and I have been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.  My journey with the black beast continues......