Support Melina Gross's Fight Against Ovarian Cancer

My sister Melina Gross, a single mom with 9 children has begun her battle with stage 3C dedifferentiated ovarian cancer. It's one of those very surreal moments where you think this cannot be happening to me. She was having some pain in December 2024 so she got a cat-scan. She was diagnosed on January 7th 2025 during her first appointment with her gynocologist oncologist. There are rarely signs that accompany stages 1 and 2 and so by the time you present with any symptoms, ovarian cancer is already at a stage 3 or more. We have been told that this is a very rare type of ovarian cancer that is more chemo resistant than the other types. We are raising money for her monthly bills, since she is not able to work right now and for travel expenses to participate in clinical trials and alternative medicine that insurance doesn’t cover.

January 18th was her surgery. She was scheduled for a 4-6 hour surgery, which included total hysterectomy, probable bowel resection and a 3-5% of waking up with some kind of ostomy bag. The surgery took over 7 hours and she ended up with an ileostomy bag. She had an 11cm cancerous mass removed. The cancer had already invaded a couple of abdominal lymph nodes and was attached to her colon. They removed as much as they could. They did have to leave an infected lymph node that supplies blood to the colon. The cancer is very aggressive so we need to be aggressive about treatment.

Chemo started Feb 4th to start addressing that left over lymph node and any microscopic cancer remaining. We are still unsure if chemo will even help. We will be flying out to a highly renowned gyno oncologist in Texas in march to see about a second opinion and possible different course of treatment. Any contributions are appreciated. Thank you