Ceris melanoma journey Rest In Peace Ceri https://facebook/groups/2381590585/ A mole on her temple, nothing huge, just a mole. But little did we know the deadly and silent killer that was waiting. Her mole had developed a lump on it, which she didnt mention…but why would she…she was 18 years old! My sisters friend had just been diagnosed with melanoma and one day, Ceri flipped her hair back and my sister saw the mole and was horrified (she is an RN and had been looking up melanoma because of her friend). I took her to my doctor where I worked and he got her referred to a dermatologist/melanoma specialist within days. Biopsy came back positive 1.8 m superficial spreading melanoma. Our world came crashing down around us. The feeling is indescribable. This all happened right before Christmas 2005. She was scheduled for a wide excision in early January 2006. This was done and I will never ever forget the feeling of seeing the hockey puck sized hole that was left in her face. Her courage in facing this, she was a beautiful 18 year old girl, was incredible but I know there were many dark hours for her. They did a Sentinel node biopsy of her parotid and they found microscopic cells in one lymph node so now she is a stage 3A. The surgery this time was horrid, huge scar, infection that went on for months and months. But we were happy to know that the cancer was in a jar somewhere not in her and it had been a tiny little bit - right???? Wrong……after a great summer, going to Disney, passing her vocal major singing part of her music degree, dating and just doing the normal things a now 19 year would do, she started to feel ill. We thought she had caught a stomach bug as she threw up first thing in the morning a few times and was generally unwell. Her 6 month chest X-ray and blood work was done and then the devastating news that the cancer was in her lungs, not just a little bit, but multiple pulmonary nodes was the report. A CT of her abdomen and chest then showed mets in her liver…..she was having terrible trouble even putting food in her mouth due to nausea and vomiting so they did a CT of her head and there were mets all over, including a large one on her brain stem. This all happened between February and September……silently without warning of any kind. Whole brain radiation was all they could offer her so we did that which turned my beautiful child into an old person who could hardly walk down the corridor…her hair fell out so we got it shaved and bought a lovely red wig……and then the steroid episode began. Dexamethasone…..holy moly……love hate relationship with that drug. On the one hand it really helped with the swelling in her brain but after a few weeks she started to hallucinate and at one point couldnt remember her own name!!!!! Her brother took her to the medical marijuana club and in front of my eyes, she became normal, could eat me under the table and for a short time had some quality. They started her on a chemo drug which sent her red cells into a tail spin….but all this was too late. On 23 December she had a seizure in the ENT doctors office where we were going to see him because it had spread to her throat and her tonsils were black!!! CT scan of her brain revealed too many mets to count in her brain - the neurologist couldnt believe she was still with us at this point as she shouldnt have been. And so began her last Christmas, a Christmas of such amazing courage and determination. Her nan was there from the UK and everyone came to dinner. She managed to sit at the table and spend this time with her family. On 6th January she had a devastating stroke that took her speech and dignity away. We took her to the hospital but there was nothing that could be done at this point so we took her home and called Hospice. On 14th January, after a week of amazing courage and much heartache for her family, she passed away with her whole family surrounding her. There was so much more to Ceri than melanoma…..a beautiful daughter, sister, grand daughter, niece, singer, an amazing young woman who had the courage to go on TV and show her scars hoping that some young people would see this and not go in tanning beds (and she saved many a life), a courageous and fabulous young woman. We love you Ceri…….xJulie Smith (Ceris Mom ) youtube/watch?v=miZHXxng9UE
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 21:21:23 +0000
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