Melanoma: Back to life after stage IV melanoma: THANK YOU CAREGIVERS

Recently I was talking to my sister about our 3rd time to host a fun run / walk for Aim at Melanoma (shameless plug!) and she mentioned that she liked to have something to do because it was hard to talk to people about our fight against cancer.

I call it "OUR FIGHT" because my entire family fought with me!! I was the one receiving the medicine and getting the scans,but I was NEVER ALONE! My treatment was INCREDIBLY HARD. For a 22 day cycle, I was admitted to the oncology ward of St. John's Hospital for the first 5 days and I WAS NEVER ALONE. My family took care of driving me, staying with me, keeping me company when I was in between treatments. The very first night of my treatments, my mom and sister were a block away in a Best Western and my Mom woke up at 2:00 a.m. and thought, "What am I doing here?? Steph is over there!" and she got up and walked back to my room and did not leave my side.

Fighting cancer is a family fight. The family is the first to hear the diagnosis. Family is the first to think, "what would I do if this person dies?" Family is there to hear the doctor's words about how treatment is going. For me, it was my Mom, Sisters, and Husband and daughter who were on the front line with me for this fight! It was beyond helpful to my mental state to know these people had my back.

My sister Kathryn was AMAZING and always tried to get me to smile. One time she went to the chapel room in the hospital that had a tv channel, and did a dance for me. My sister Amy would bring me any food I wanted when I said I was hungry, because that was rare. I would hardly eat for days and days and lost 60 pounds during treatments. My husband and daughter would call me in the hospital and talk to me about all things home, you see, I had to leave them to get treatment and I was terribly home sick for them.

My Mom was my constant companion. Her and I would often be awake at 2:00 am, reading our books, and not knowing if I would survive another round of treatment.

SO, I can never thank my caregivers enough for being there for me. I thank you by being alive 7 years later!!

AND THANK you to all caregivers out here for your many-many hours of sitting with us cancer patients as we are often too exhausted to even talk. We are too sick to eat, and overall are not the best company while we endure treatments. Without our support system in place, the treatments are often too much for us to endure.

Mom and Me, during treatments.