Victory for the Vance's #13

As many of you know, and for those who do not, our friends Rodney and Melanie Vance are once again going through a bit of a rough patch. One would never know it though because they NEVER complain and are always smiling.

Rodney was diagnosed with cancer in his left hip in 1999. Since the original diagnosis Rodney had the following:

His doctor said he was not a candidate for a lucky #13 hip replacement but instead he offered the next best thing, an amputation of his left leg all the way to his now nonexistent hip, also known as a disarticulation. The amputation took place in mid April, 2023.

After a couple of weeks, Rodney had to return to the hospital in Dallas due to an infection within his surgical site. His take home prize was a wound care vac which has been named "Wilma the Wound Care Vac". A few days later there was more pain and he returned to Dallas only to find out through a CT scan that cancer was now in his kidney. The bright side was he could have that surgery in Tyler instead of Dallas but still had to keep his wound care vac. The cancer removal from the kidney was on Tuesday, 6/27/2023. At this time, the surgeon feels it was successful based on preliminary reports.

Now they are awaiting his release from Christus Mother Francis so he can travel once again this Friday to Dallas for the surgeon to check the wound and infection. (We think it’s to make sure he is still carrying around Wilma the Wound Care Vac!)

Next week, Rodney and Melanie must travel to Houston to be fitted for a prosthetic leg and all that goes with that. Who knew it takes a week to learn all the things about his new leg?!

Thru all of this, Rodney, nor Melanie have complained especially considering it has been a long time since we partied like it was 1999…when this all began! They both have a remarkable faith in God. Thankfully, when Rodney was having his disarticulation surgery, his friend Keven Hatcher was able to remodel their bathroom to make it handicap accessible. Keven donated his time and much of the material.

Rodney was forced to sell his truck that he used for work due to his current circumstances. They are now down to one vehicle which is difficult, at best. They are very grateful to Monty Stanley who donated money, along with some of Monty’s friends, to go towards another vehicle for Rodney. Unfortunately, the medical bills continue to come in and that money was needed to pay those bills.

We know how much both Rodney and Melanie mean to everyone. As a result, we would like to ask you to contribute what you can to their go fund me account to help with their current and future expenses as well as keeping both Rodney and Melanie in your thoughts and prayers.

The money will be used for upcoming travel expenses, including gas, meals, and hotels for the repeated trips to the hospital in Dallas; travel expenses to Houston for his prosthesis, again including gas, meals, and hotel expenses. The money will also be used to help with outstanding medical expenses because we know how much “Wilma the Wound Vac” is going to be in addition to MANY other bills.

Any amount is much appreciated, needed, and will used to help ease some of what they are going thru. Please consider forwarding to your classmates from BOTH Robert E. Lee and John Tyler where they were 1984 graduates. Also, if we have any TJC alumni willing to donate as both Rodney and Melanie attended Tyler Junior College and where Melanie was an Apache Bell and Rodney helped with the Bells and was also in the fraternity Delta Upsilon.