Help Melanie Crews Kick Cancer
Donation protected
Help Melanie Rally Against Cancer
To support Melanie Kelly through a serious health crisis, we are hoping, with your help, to raise $10,000 over the next 10 weeks.
Many of you know Melanie has been dealing with back pain for months now. Despite her discomfort, she has continued to work as a stylist, assuming it was everyday back pain or, as it continued, perhaps a ruptured disk.
Last Thursday her physical therapist sent her to the emergency room because he felt something was amiss. And he was right. Melanie has been working with a broken back. In addition to the burst fracture in L1, the doctors found lesions along her spine, which appeared to be weakening the bone.
During a seven-hour emergency surgery, the doctors fused 10 vertebrae in Melanie’s back in an effort to stabilize her spine and removed the broken vertebrae and bone fragments which were pushing on her spinal cord. They told her she was a very lucky lady, as she might not have walked out of there.
If the story ended here, Melanie would have gone home yesterday. She’s a healthy 36-year-old woman and bounces back quickly. Unfortunately, a biopsy confirmed that the lesions were cancerous, most likely breast cancer that moved to her bones. So our journey is only beginning.
We need to raise money to support Melanie’s healing. She can’t work while she’s undergoing treatment, and she hasn’t been able to work much for the past few months because of the pain. She lives simply, but with no income coming in, her expenses have eliminated her limited reserves. We don’t want her to worry about her bills or losing her beloved Duckpond apartment when she needs to be focusing on healing.
One of the most enduring and magical aspects of Gainesville is its sense of community and its capacity to pull together when one of the tribe needs help. Melanie is loved by so many in this community and we hope we can count on you, her extended family, to show up for her.
The $10,000 we’re hoping to raise over the next 10 weeks will help cover living expenses and a whole host of other things we’re just now wrapping our brains around (prescriptions, shower chairs, doctor bills, etc.).
We will know more about her illness in the coming days and will keep you updated, but what’s been made clear is that this journey will be a marathon rather than a sprint. At present, she is facing weeks of aggressive anti-cancer treatment. We will know more once she is moved to the oncology wing of Shands.
Any help you can provide – no offering is too small or too great – is appreciated from the depths of our hearts. Just knowing that you’re there for her will touch her deeply.
With love,
Friends and Family of Melanie Kelly
To support Melanie Kelly through a serious health crisis, we are hoping, with your help, to raise $10,000 over the next 10 weeks.
Many of you know Melanie has been dealing with back pain for months now. Despite her discomfort, she has continued to work as a stylist, assuming it was everyday back pain or, as it continued, perhaps a ruptured disk.
Last Thursday her physical therapist sent her to the emergency room because he felt something was amiss. And he was right. Melanie has been working with a broken back. In addition to the burst fracture in L1, the doctors found lesions along her spine, which appeared to be weakening the bone.
During a seven-hour emergency surgery, the doctors fused 10 vertebrae in Melanie’s back in an effort to stabilize her spine and removed the broken vertebrae and bone fragments which were pushing on her spinal cord. They told her she was a very lucky lady, as she might not have walked out of there.
If the story ended here, Melanie would have gone home yesterday. She’s a healthy 36-year-old woman and bounces back quickly. Unfortunately, a biopsy confirmed that the lesions were cancerous, most likely breast cancer that moved to her bones. So our journey is only beginning.
We need to raise money to support Melanie’s healing. She can’t work while she’s undergoing treatment, and she hasn’t been able to work much for the past few months because of the pain. She lives simply, but with no income coming in, her expenses have eliminated her limited reserves. We don’t want her to worry about her bills or losing her beloved Duckpond apartment when she needs to be focusing on healing.
One of the most enduring and magical aspects of Gainesville is its sense of community and its capacity to pull together when one of the tribe needs help. Melanie is loved by so many in this community and we hope we can count on you, her extended family, to show up for her.
The $10,000 we’re hoping to raise over the next 10 weeks will help cover living expenses and a whole host of other things we’re just now wrapping our brains around (prescriptions, shower chairs, doctor bills, etc.).
We will know more about her illness in the coming days and will keep you updated, but what’s been made clear is that this journey will be a marathon rather than a sprint. At present, she is facing weeks of aggressive anti-cancer treatment. We will know more once she is moved to the oncology wing of Shands.
Any help you can provide – no offering is too small or too great – is appreciated from the depths of our hearts. Just knowing that you’re there for her will touch her deeply.
With love,
Friends and Family of Melanie Kelly
Organizer and beneficiary
Duane Tully
Organizer
Gainesville, FL
Melanie Kelly
Beneficiary