Katie Meldrum's cancer treatment
Coming from such a tight- knit community, it can be devastating to find a fellow family member struggling through the horrors of cancer. I understand many of you reading this have followed Katie's story, however for those of you who may be new, here are the details of the challenging year that the Meldrum family has been through, and the faith that has brought a community together.
John and Katie Meldrum are childhood friends, since Kindergarten. Their friendship remained strong yet more feelings developed over time until they became a couple in their 20's. They built a wonderful life together with their two daughters, Amelia (12) and Claire (8). John works at Oakland University in Undergraduate Admissions, and Katie was a parochial school music teacher as well as the church pianist until her diagnosis. They both have a strong passion for faith, music, family and traveling (especially to their beloved Seabrook Island, South Carolina).
In 2019, Katie started having health and vision issues. After being diagnosed with multiple benign- related illnesses, problems continued to persist. At the end of December 2019, Katie had a biopsy on an orbital mass that proved to be Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC), which originated in her lacrimal gland. It is an aggressive and very rare form of cancer that started in an extraordinarily rare location.
In January 2020, Katie underwent her first round of treatment at University of Michigan. In February of that same year, she went to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion from one of the world's leading experts on lacrimal ACC. Fortunately, this expert trusted the coordinated medical team at Michigan to carry out what was necessary. She wrote up exactly what they needed to do, and Katie was able to return to Ann Arbor for treatment. In March, she had her eye and orbital contents removed to obtain clean margins (no cancer cells present). This followed up with several weeks of Proton Radiation Therapy with adjuvant chemo at Beaumont. At the end of June, the cancer was in remission.
During her three month post treatment scans in October, they received the awful news that the cancer returned, but this time metastasized to the bones. ACC does not respond well to standard forms of cancer medicines, so clinical trials are the best form of systemic treatment. Unfortunately, bone mets does not qualify one for the ACC trials. Katie's care team at Michigan have worked closely to manage the bone pain and monitor the cancer closely waiting to start her on a trial.
A recent scan showed the cancer has just started spreading outside the bones, so she may qualify. After experiencing severe pain last week, though, Katie's doctor suspected a hip fracture caused by cancer- weakened bones. She is currently in the hospital undergoing two hip surgeries, which will soon be followed by more radiation. In mid- March, they hope to have Katie enrolled in a clinical trial at Michigan.
With more treatments and trials coming up, we told John and Katie that so many people were reaching out and wanted to help. We finally convinced John and Katie to let us do this for them, which is the reason for this Go Fund Me page. We want John and Katie to focus on her recovery. The funds raised will assist with medical bills and expenses, gas, cleaning services (especially during treatments) and so much more.
We will continue to update everyone along the way as much as we can. Above all, please pray for Katie's healing and recovery, for her medical team treating her, and for the comfort and support for John, Amelia and Claire.
Thank you all for the continued thoughts, prayers, and kind messages of support and love. Each and every one of the are being heard!
- The McCracken & Meldrum family
Isaiah 58:8-9 – Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.