I am participating in Strides for Melanoma Walk for Awareness to help raise funds towards melanoma patient support, prevention efforts and education. Melanoma is a serious and potentially deadly form of skin cancer. In North America, one person dies from melanoma every hour. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
My husband, James, was initially diagnosed with melanoma in June 2014. By the time it was diagnosed, it was Stage III and already traveling outside the primary site. Surgery removed the tumour on his face and 42 lymph nodes in his neck. By August 2016, it had metastasized to his brain, liver and bowel with a terminal prognosis. In an effort to buy time, James suffered multiple hospital stays, surgeries, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation treatments, post-seizure ambulance trips, and multiple blood transfusions. Our last (and last) anniversary together was spent in a hospital room. All this, James did with his typical positive attitude and jokes. James, succumbed to this dreadful disease in January this year, just 2 weeks before his 40th birthday.
He left us to carry on without him and I struggle every day with this profound loss. As part of my grieving and healing process, I work to raise awareness around the prevention and diagnosis of melanoma. If James’s primary lesion had been caught sooner, if the metastatic tumours had been caught sooner, he might still be here or at least have had a better chance.
I was witness to James’s cancer journey from the beginning in 2014 to his very last breath. I would never wish this suffering, his or mine, on anyone. If I can play a small part in the fight against melanoma then it I must do it. It is what James wanted.
We hold on (posted Oct 9, 2016)
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