Melissa Carlson's (Willemse) Battle

Dear friends and family, we are writing this on behalf of our sister Melissa (Willemse) Carlson, who recently found out that she has brain cancer. Melissa is so many things to so many people, but first and foremost, she is mom to Benjamin (10), Abigail (8), and Alexis (5), and wife to William Carlson.

On October 29, 2022, Melissa began to experience stroke symptoms and was taken by ambulance to Loma Linda University Medical Center. While there, she was diagnosed with a hemorrhagic stroke that the medical team thought had resulted from an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Following the stroke, Melissa was left with some slight speech deficits and significant motor deficits on the right side of her body. After a few days in the ICU and step-down unit, she was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation center where she worked through extensive physical and occupational therapy. She was able to walk out of there on her own right before Thanksgiving and continued to work on regaining function in her right arm at home. Based on the original diagnosis, the expectation was that surgery would provide her a complete cure, and as a result Melissa underwent an awake craniotomy on December 23rd. Melissa awoke from the surgery with no additional deficits, which was a huge blessing. Unfortunately, when the neurosurgeon went in for the surgery, he did not find an AVM but rather a brain tumor. He removed as much as he safely could and sent it to pathology to determine what it was. Results have since shown that Melissa has a Grade 4 Astrocytoma, also known as a Glioblastoma.

We are still in the fact-finding process so we do not know exactly what the treatment plan will be, but we do know it will be extensive and will at a minimum include radiation and chemotherapy. We also know that Melissa and her family are going to need help with medical and living expenses as they go through this difficult time. Throughout this process, Will has been off work and has exhausted most of his leave taking care of Melissa in the short term, and he will need to take more time off in the future to support and spend time with her. Melissa will also not be able to work for the foreseeable future.

Melissa and Will have both helped so many throughout their careers; Melissa as a NICU nurse at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital for over 19 years, and Will as a firefighter currently working at San Bernardino County Fire Department. If you are able, we’re asking you to please help them in their time of need. If you have any questions or would like to reach out to donate/help in a different way, please contact Ashley or Jessica directly. Thank you all.