Support for Sarah's Battle with Metastatic Melanoma

Support for Sarah's Battle with Metastatic Melanoma

This is an opportunity to support Sarah Beldin and her fantastic family. My family and I have loved the Beldins since we first watched Sarah and Cort play soccer at the Sports Park in Corvallis over 20 years ago. We immediately went to battle to get them on our COed team and have bonded in the way that people who play hard together often do. Lucky for us, their athleticism was just a tiny part of these incredible humans. They became our family—sister and brother to Steve and me, aunt and uncle to my kids. When Tessa joined the story, we were gifted an incredible niece and cousin to our kiddos. We have been through so many stages of life together. Unfortunately, while Sarah was supporting me during my first rounds of chemo, Sarah and her doctors discovered she had mucosal melanoma in March of 2022.

Sarah’s cancer, as some of you may already know, is rare, to say the least. Less than 1% of melanoma cancers are mucosal melanoma that originates in mucous membranes, and doctors don’t know much about why it develops or who is predisposed. It is rare, it is understudied compared to more common cancers, and it can be aggressive. This is where she began her journey, and unfortunately, her cancer has continued to progress even with an initial surgery, 20 rounds of single-drug immunotherapy, four harsh rounds of dual immunotherapy, and various other treatments. She has worked with The Willamette Valley Cancer Institute in Corvallis/Eugene, MD Anderson in Houston, and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland.

Sarah and her family are on to yet another stage of her “cancer journey” at OHSU in Portland at the end of July. Sarah will go through a new treatment for metastatic melanoma patients that was just approved by the FDA in February called Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) therapy; you can read about it here: Lifileucel First Cellular Therapy Approved for Cancer - NCI. They are still ironing out all the details, but she will be in the hospital for 2 weeks during the treatment, and when released, she is required to stay in Portland for 30 days to be close to the hospital and care team. Of course, she will need Cort, Tessa, and Juno with her until she is well enough to return home.

Let's be honest: fighting cancer is brutal. The hard truth is that it is not just one battle but many consecutive, daily battles, some tiny, some massive, some mental, some physical, and most are unpredictable. Sarah has managed her treatments while working as much as possible at the U.S. Geological Survey, her employer for the past 17 years. Cort and Sarah both continue to work hard to create and cultivate their lives—prioritizing work and play, raising Tessa, maintaining their 80-year-old home and garden, and tending to the non-human family (senior dog, cat, rabbit, and many laying hens). Now, there is an added need to work with insurance, research her disease to assess next steps and other ways to treat and recover, attend many doctors’ appointments, and prepare to be away from their home for 6 weeks which includes finding temporary housing, getting help with Tessa’s Corvallis summer schedule, and maintaining their home while they are away. Sarah is also under doctor's orders not to return to full-time work until January 2025. It is so complex. We all know how strong this family is; it is unthinkable that they are forced to be even stronger now.

Sarah and her family have felt so much love and support throughout this entire process, but especially in the past 7 months. They are truly grateful! So many family members and friends have reached out and offered to help even more; knowing what is needed daily, weekly, or monthly is hard. The most helpful thing right now is to ease the financial burdens that come with what they must continue to navigate. Our hope is that this GFM campaign will be a tangible way to support our dear friends and continue to walk alongside them through this difficult time.

Sending love,

Mandy and Steve Hunter

*If this is not a preferred platform for contributing, but you would still like to help, please contact Mandy and Steve.