Sandy's Story

Sandy Mellen and her son, Douglas

October 2005 marked the end of one nightmare and the beginning of another one for Sandy Mellen, a 53 year old single mother with a 16 year old son.  Her father was slowly deteriorating from neurological lyme disease.  Sandy had spent the past five years of her life caring for him while fighting both insurance and government regulations that limited his options for treatment.  Sadly, this was a fight she had lost. As he lay dying in the emergency room at Nyack Hospital, Sandy was on the second floor of the same hospital receiving the mind-numbing news that she had cancer. No longer a stranger to adversity or pain, she simply readied herself to fight the next battle — this one for her own life. Sandy’s father passed away the following day.  Amidst the flurry of funeral-arranging activity that is counterpoint to the solemn mourning which accompanies death, medical specialists were contacted and Sandy’s surgery was scheduled at Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital for the day following the funeral. 

Waking in the recovery room, Sandy found a group of doctors surrounding her bed. The good news was that they believed that they had removed all of the cancer. The bad news? They had discovered, during routine bloodwork, that she also had leukemia. She was sent home to recover and get strong enough to undergo chemotherapy treatment for the leukemia. Several weeks later she was back at Sloane Kettering, which would be her home for the next several months.

As most of us know, chemotherapy is not an easy ride.  But Sandy held up beautifully — always positive, always laughing despite the pain — and in March of 2006 returned home, hopeful that the leukemia would now be in remission. Several weeks later, the good news came — Sandy was indeed in remission! The bad news?  The cancer had metastasized after all and was now in her lungs.

Sandy began treatment with reassurances that this cancer would be fairly easy to control.  It was just 3 small spots and should respond well to oral medications.  It did not, and almost one year later Sandy began another round of chemotherapy. This time she could receive treatment while living at home.  This particular chemotherapy had only mild side effects which lasted just a few days, which meant she was finally able to return to work — happy news for her as well as her employers!  She would go for chemo once every three weeks, sometimes missing a day of work after treatment, but more often not.  This routine continued until just before Thanksgiving this year.  Sandy had been complaining of strange pain in her legs for several months, but her doctors reassured her that it was just a minor side effect of chemo.

Then one morning she woke up and could not stand.  She was brought to the emergency room at Sloane Kettering and, numerous tests later, learned that the cancer had now metastasized to her brain, spine, and femur, as well as the cancer still in her lungs.  Additionally, there was a mass at the base of her brain/top of her spine that was swelling and creating undo pressure, which was responsible for the trouble in her legs. Emergency radiation treatment began that day and Sandy started to feel better right away.  Despite this immediate improvement, she was told that the situation was grave. Though she continued to receive radiation treatment every day, her doctors warned that statistically speaking, her prognosis was not good.  

Ever the fighter, Sandy did not accept this final diagnosis.  She sought second and third opinions, and had found potential treatments that, while there were no guarantees, did offer a more positive outlook.

Sadly, on January 23, 2008, Sandy's long battle came to an end as, surrounded by her family, she passed away.

Our goal now is to give Sandy's son and family at least some of the financial peace of mind that they need so desperately during this tragic time.