Hello Friends,

Much has changed since this GoFundMe account was created late last year.

Initially, we anticipated that Wesley would require around-the-clock care for his Progressive Supranuclear Palsy condition while Melodie was incapacitated following her cancer treatments and would no longer be able to provide that care for him, as she had been doing for the past several years. However, we did not anticipate Wesley's passing and the substantial loss of household income that would entail, nor did we anticipate that Melodie would require as much care following her cancer treatments. So, we would like to provide this update on Melodie's present condition, both medically and financially.

Following Wesley's funeral at the end of February, Melodie began radiation and chemotherapy treatments at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory in Atlanta the first week of March. Due to the distance from her home to the hospital being further than what the hospital recommends during treatment, she had to pay out of pocket to stay in a hotel near Winship for about six weeks and required additional professional assistance with her care at the hotel between treatments. She completed those treatments about a month and a half later on April 16th and returned home shortly thereafter.

The adverse side effects of those treatments have taken a huge toll on Melodie. She's very weak, suffers from migraines, and has experienced considerable weight loss. Although she is able to talk remarkably well and was able to eat soft foods for a short while following her surgery, the radiation treatments stiffened her reconstructed tongue and throat muscles to such an extent that she is no longer able to chew and swallow food safely. So, she's back to using the feeding tube for all of her nutritional needs. She has also been suffering from vertigo ever since her surgery the second week of January. She was treated for it with the Epley Maneuver on April 24th and may require a follow-up treatment in the future if the vertigo returns.

Due to the loss of a substantial portion of her tongue and its replacement with skin grafts, Melodie is undergoing speech therapy, physical therapy, and swallowing therapy for the foreseeable future so that she will hopefully be able to speak more clearly, eat without choking, and ultimately have the port for her feeding tube removed. She will have a PET scan performed in a few weeks to determine if the cancer has returned, and she'll have several more throughout the year. Due to her extremely weakened state, she is unable to drive herself to and from her appointments and requires professional help with many of her other daily needs, as well.

Beyond the anguish of losing her beloved Wesley just a day after being released from the hospital following her cancer surgery, his loss has also dealt a huge blow to Melodie's financial condition, with the suspension of his pension benefits and both, his and her, Social Security benefits.

Right after Wesley's funeral and just before Melodie had to report to the Winship Cancer Center for her radiation and chemotherapy treatments, she went to the Social Security office to have Wesley's larger benefit transferred to her as a surviving spouse, which entailed forfeiting her own benefit. Due to some bureaucratic problems at the Social Security office, they managed to cut off her benefit but not transfer his benefit to her. So, instead of receiving two Social Security checks a month, she has received none for the past few months. It's a similar situation with Wesley's pension. With his passing, his pension benefits have been suspended until they can be transferred to Melodie. So, for the past few months, instead of receiving two Social Security benefits and a pension benefit every month, she has received nothing at all.

Accordingly, Melodie has had to rely almost solely on the very kind and generous donations to the GoFundMe campaign to handle all of her various expenses the past few months, and the account has consequently diminished considerably. Even when the bureaucratic hurdles of transferring his Social Security and pension benefits to her are cleared, it will probably represent only one-half of the household income they had before Wesley passed away.

Please give prayerful consideration today to making a generous donation to Melodie’s GoFundMe campaign, including the option of a recurring monthly amount. Thank you in advance.

Friends of Wesley and Melodie Woods