Melissa had been feeling some pain for a couple of weeks, as we all do, blaming it on everything in the book; probably something like medication side effects, or the changing weather, or just plain old "getting older" excuse. Two weeks before Christmas, Melissa had braved the pain and taken her granddaughter Dallas to go Christmas shopping for new clothes. About 20 minutes into the shopping trip, she had to drop everything and leave the store immediately. The pain she was feeling in her body was immeasurable. Melissa called me to come pick her up, so worn out, out of breath, sounding like she was hit by a bus. I stayed with her on the phone while dropping everything I was doing to come pick up Dallas and check things out. Again, as we all do, the excuses came. "Oh, it will pass" or "This medicine I quit taking has long-lasting side effects." "I will be able to drive in no time. Go ahead, I will be fine."

She convinced me good and well she would be okay and this is not a new occurrence. Being on similar medication with similar side effects myself, I brushed it off. My husband, her godson Cody, stayed on the phone with her until she was better. Cody's mom Becky, Melissa's long-term best friend (more like family), had been visiting her more often to check in on her and take care of her. Working as a nurse in an urgent care full-time, it was a dream come true for monitoring her.

Things didn't appear to get better and she just seemed so low. Becky and Alex (Melissa's goddaughter and roommate - also Becky's daughter) made the decision to rush her to an urgent care because something just wasn't right. At urgent care, they saw her hemoglobin was low and referred her to the ER. They rushed her to Henry Piedmont to find out she has an internal bleed needing a blood transfusion. The first transfusion didn't take and needed another. They did scans and came to find a mass on her kidney.

After spending Christmas in the hospital, one biopsy, and several types of scans later... they determined it is kidney cancer that has attached itself to her liver. Fortunately, it has not made its way to her brain. This all happened so incredibly fast and is so much to process.

On top of the horrifying news, Melissa has no income right now. With no job, she really needs support and help to deal with this crisis. We have all prayed for a Christmas miracle and now more than ever we need more help. Any donation or share is so appreciated.

A visit with an oncologist is scheduled for 1/6/25 to discuss surgery. We are still in the dark with this terrible waiting game. We have no answers as far as what stage this is, what the life expectancy is, any other symptoms etc. The only reason we caught any of this was because of the internal bleeding. Word is, kidney cancer is extremely dangerous because there is typically no pain attached to it. It comes and it takes. We were given a gift to have some type of symptom attached so she can fight this! The days have been so long with the pain, the waiting, the worrying. I know some help will keep her going. Thank you all.