I have started this go fund me as my cousin who has been more like a sister and friend to me my whole life was diagnosed with a brain tumor she has a very long road ahead and FMLA unfortunately is only for so many weeks and a portion of pay. With two brain surgeries she will be out of work up to 9 months and I want to help ease this stress financially.

Here is story: Melanie was feeling off for a few years. She described it like she was looking out of a fishbowl on her right side, accompanied by facial numbness. She was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, a nerve disorder that would explain the numbness and tingling in her face. She is not sure if this was correct diagnosis or not.. fast forward to December 2025/January 2026 where she started to feel off balance and had mild dizzy spells along with the facial numbness. She had a Meningiomas which are typically benign (not cancerous) tumor.

Tomorrow 3/2 will be her first retrosigmoid craniotomy at St Francis hospital to resect her tumor. She will be in ICU for a few days following surgery with a probable stay of 3-4 days.

She will then heal up 4-6 weeks and go back for a right sided craniotomy to remove as much of the remaining tumor as possible. This will be another ICU stay and regular hospital stay. Following both surgeries she will need a few rounds of radiation to completely eradicate anything that could not be surgically removed.

I ask if you can please share this for me/her/her family. Every little bit helps. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Love,

Lisa