Melissa is the eyes and ears of our local school. She is the most caring and compassionate person we could have at the front desk of our school community. Melissa is a priceless asset to Tomahawk.

Two years ago, she needed a full hip replacement. Shortly after it was discovered that there was infection in her hip, requiring a removal surgery with a temporary hip, then a third surgery for another new hip. There have been rounds and rounds of heavy antibiotics and so many tests.

Just this week Melissa was informed that her second new hip is infected, again. She had emergency surgery (her 4th if you’re keeping track) to remove and place a temporary while they work on the infection. She will then need another surgery to replace her hip again- for a third time.

As you can imagine this has been exhausting for her young family. Her husband Aaron does an incredible job juggling their two kids and keeping the house running while Melissa is down and out. However with surgeries comes massive amounts of time off work which exhaust all days, tons of medical bills and the costs of running to and from different doctors and being in the hospital so often.

We have seen first hand how tremendously difficult this is for the Nieman family and yet Melissa would not ask for a thing. The last time she was off work, she was itching to get back to the students. She took her wheelchair to the local sporting competitions. She organizes events for the students. She is part of the first responders, local fire department, library, and so many more local services. She supports our community in ways that are unmatched. It’s time for us to support her.