Melissa, an avid Fit Radio user, was first diagnosed with cervical cancer early 2016, just 7 months after her daughter, Addie, was born. This news was devastating but she took it in stride determined to beat it. She has been battling it on and off ever since. As a member of the #FitRadioFam, we’re asking you to help band together to help Melissa & her friends and family with her fight. Read more to learn more about Melissa and what you can do to help.
Melissa Center is a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. She is a teacher at Sawyer elementary school and leads a Girls on the Run program to help inspire young girls. She has the heart of gold and is always looking for ways to help others.
Melissa was first diagnosed with cervical cancer early 2016, just 7 months after her daughter, Addie, was born. This news was devastating but she took it in stride determined to beat it. She has been battling it on and off ever since. She has endured countless rounds of chemo and radiation, multiple surgeries and was deemed in remission for the third time earlier this year. When she went to her 3 month follow up scan, the result was not what we had hoped. The scans showed that the cancer had spread rapidly and now metastasized into her abdomen, colon, liver and many lymph nodes. With this, she now qualifies for a clinical trial at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. The trial consists of the doctors removing one of her tumors, which was successfully completed Monday, July 29th and then using that tumor to produce tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in a lab. Once that is ready sometime late August, Melissa and her family will fly back to Houston to start the trial and go for a minimum of 3 weeks. This trial is experimental, very risky and has the potential of some pretty severe side effects. However, if it works, it could be a chance at long term remission. In Melissa’s words, “High risk, high reward. I am thinking maybe my purpose in this is to prove this treatment’s effectiveness and get to help lots of other people in the future.”
Melissa is the kind of person that is always thinking of others and looking at the good in every situation. With this next chapter and quite a fight ahead of her, we are hoping to provide as much financial support as possible to help with her endless medical expenses and travel back and forth to Houston. The more we can alleviate that financial stress for her and her family, the more she can focus on beating this cancer once and for all.
Melissa spends a lot of hours in hospitals due to her surgeries, recovery, chemo etc. She also spends a lot of time in airports and airplanes traveling back and forth to Houston. She listened to Fit Radio during a lot of this time because the variety of music just helps her get energized, motivated, and lifts her spirits.
#FitRadioFam, lets band together to help Melissa and her battle. Her friends and family are hosting a silent auction on Sept. 7th in Smyrna, GA which they will hold online as well. Click here to learn more about how you can participate and win some amazing items including some free Fit Radio subscriptions.
You can also help out through her GoFundMe page or purchase one her T-Shirts with 100% profits going to her cause.
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