Supporting Melanie Caldwell in her cancer journey

Welcome and thank you for visiting Melanie's Go Fund Me site! We've created this site to connect Melanie with her supporters during her breast cancer journey. Thank you for joining her team of supporters!

If you are here, then you probably already know the incredible person that is my sister Melanie. Melanie is the kind of person who has always put others before herself. She is an incredible mother to her four children, who are her highest priority always. She is incredibly engaged with their sports, chess, dance, school, scouts and more. She is a caring wife, daughter, sister, and friend. Beyond on this, Melanie’s entire career has been providing outstanding health care to improve the quality of life of her patients. Now she needs our help.

Late winter, Melanie discovered a concerning lump in her breast. After substantial testing, it turns out that she has both DCIS and metastatic invasive ductal carcinoma in her right breast, involving numerous lymph nodes. Thankfully, the cancer has not spread further. However, her cancer is aggressive and substantial.

She is now beginning an intensive treatment plan that is projected to include 16 rounds of chemotherapy over five-six months of high-octane chemotherapy followed by major surgery, then 6 weeks of radiation and finally reconstruction. Her first round of chemotherapy was Thursday, April 18th. This will be a long and intense journey.

Because Melanie works in home health care, she is not able to work at all during her treatment. The reduction in family income combined with medical bills will be challenging.

This is a journey that we all hope and believe will lead to a positive outcome. Melanie is determined to succeed in regaining a healthy body. In fact, on her way to the initial chemo treatment Melanie said it was the “First day of the most important job I will ever have.”

Melanie and her family appreciate all the support you can provide--in thoughts, prayers, and deeds over this next interval.

We will provide some updates here and more at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/melaniecaldwell

--Alycia Stigall