My sister, Nora, has battled melanoma for over 21 years.  In 1989, while pregnant with her first child, she found a growth on her left thigh. I remember first seeing it while we were on the front porch of our family shore home in Belmar with our other sisters.  (There are six of us) Having already experienced the loss of our sister Carole Lynn from brain cancer at the age of 20, we all demanded that Nora see a dermatologist, which she did. 

    When the growth was biopsied, it was determined to be Stage Three melanoma.

    The growth was removed and, since her borders were clear, there was no further treatment to be had at that time. 

    Her pregnancy otherwise went off without a hitch and Nora and husband Keith’s healthy beautiful daughter Jessica was born in March of 1990. 

    Two years’ later, Nora found herself pregnant again.  In the fall of 2002, during a routine examination, it was discovered that the melanoma had grown in the lymph nodes in her groin.  Her doctors recommended that she terminate her pregnancy so that they could treat her, but that was never an option for Nora and Keith.  Nora had reasoned that, if Jessica was going to grow up without a mother, she was going to grow up with a sibling.

    At about this same time, Keith was given an opportunity to take a two year job opportunity in Barcelona, Spain. By the time they learned of the pregnancy and recurring cancer, they had already sold their South Carolina home, placed their possessions in storage, and were poised for their adventure in Spain.

    Fortunately, Keith was able to get a temporary assignment to Delaware.  Nora, Keith and Jessica moved back to South Jersey where both of their families lived, and found a condominium to rent in Mantua.  While Keith commuted daily to Delaware, Nora was closely monitored during this period of time by her ob/gyn connected to Cooper Hospital in New Jersey and her oncologist and surgeon in separate hospitals in Philadelphia.

    As their baby grew, so did the cancer. During Nora’s  second trimester she underwent a radical lymph node dissection of the groin. By the third trimester, the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes again, this time in her sacroiliac.  But, they could not treat the cancer while Nora was pregnant. When their daughter, Amanda, weighed just 4 pounds and was 6 months to term, in April, 1993, the decision was made to deliver her prematurely.  Although premature, Amanda was a healthy, beautiful baby. The doctors all coordinated their efforts so, very shortly after Amanda was delivered; Nora was taken by ambulance across the river to have the cancer removed at Pennsylvania Hospital.

    While some of Nora and Keith’s family remained at the neonatal unit with Amanda, the others waited at Pennsylvania Hospital during Nora’s surgery.  Nora, Keith and her oncologist had predetermined that Nora was going to try an experimental program which entailed mixing her cancer cells with other cancer fighting agents, then reinjecting the cocktail back into her, in an attempt to teach her immune system to recognize her own cancer cells as a foreign entity and destroy them.  So, once the cancer cells had been surgically removed, Keith and one of our sisters drove the package to Jefferson University, where the melanoma department, under the supervision of Nora’s oncologist, Dr. Berd, prepared the culture for treatment.

    Shortly after, Nora was able to come home to her temporary condo, and some time after that, Amanda came home also.  Keith, who had outstayed his assignment in Delaware, was given the ultimatum by his employer to go to Spain or lose his job, so off he went without his family.
 
    For the next year, the family took turns caring for Amanda and Nora while Nora went through her treatment.  Because Amanda had been born prematurely, she had come home on a ventilator.  So, we all had to learn “preme” CPR. Fortunately, Amanda was such a trooper; none of us had to use it.

    Eventually, Dr. Berd declared that Nora had no active cancer, and needed no more treatment, so she, Amanda and Jessica went to Spain to join Keith for the next year.  They had a wonderful year full of adventures and memories. When they returned home, they once again moved to South Carolina.

    In 1995, the melanoma resurfaced at the original site on her left thigh and was removed.

    For the next Seven years, although there were “watch spots” that would appear in various organs on her body, Nora otherwise had no significant treatment or surgery.

    Now, Nora’s dream was to be a photographer, and to have her own studio attached to her home on a piece of property she would be able to landscape for outdoor pictures.
In 2002, she finally felt she had passed enough waiting time for her cancer to reoccur and was in the “safe” zone, so to speak, so she was determined to move forward with her life plans. She began scouting her hometown looking for the perfect place for their family to live.

    In the summer of 2002, Nora found a home on three acres of land, with a garage she knew she could convert into a photography studio.  She began making plans to make her dream come true.  Only it wasn’t yet meant to be. No sooner had she made up her mind to buy the property, she began coughing up blood, and her trip to the emergency room confirmed that her cancer had spread to both her lungs.

    Once again, Nora and Keith packed up their family and drove up to Pennsylvania to meet with her surgeon and oncologist.  On Route 295, just south of the Commodore Barry Bridge, they handed off Jessica and Amanda and Charlie, their dog, to one of their sisters, and continued up the highway to the hospital where other family members were waiting for them.  The girls and Charlie spent the summer here in New Jersey with their family while Nora went through surgery, first on her right lung, then on her left lung.

    By school time, it appeared that she was once again clear of active cancer and the family went back to South Carolina.  However, when they came back in November for her follow up scans on the Monday before Thanksgiving, they learned that her cancer was in her liver, her pancreas, wrapped around her esophagus and her aortic artery.  All Dr. Berd could offer her at that time was yet another new experimental protocol known as the “Dartmouth protocol”, which they agreed to start the Monday following Thanksgiving.  In the meantime, her cancer was so prolific; the doctor prepared her family for her imminent death.

    Nora survived that Thanksgiving, started the Dartmouth protocol that following Monday, and following almost a year of extremely debilitating treatment, and was once again declared free of active cancer in the fall of 2003.

    Miraculously, the house and land Nora had found just before she learned the cancer had spread to her lungs once again appeared on the market.  She and Keith snatched it up and quickly turned the garage into a studio.  Nora began to develop her photography studio. Keith began taking photography courses so that eventually they could work the business together. The girls were doing well in school and all seemed good in the Callahan world.

    But, Nora’s melanoma was not to leave her alone for too long. In 2008, her cancer once again came back to her lungs, then to her brain, and the family once again found themselves back in Pennsylvania, now at the Cancer Center of America, where Dr. Berd had moved his melanoma practice. She once again underwent lung surgery to remove the new tumor.

    Very shortly thereafter, the cancer started growing all over Nora.  In a matter of a few weeks, she was covered with malignant melanoma tumors, across her back, down her legs, covering her scalp and belly.  She had two extremely large and painful tumors on each of her forearms.  Tumors had also returned to the lungs and now two tumors had appeared in her brain, causing her left eye to swell shut.

    Nora was admitted to the Cancer Center of America, where she underwent radiation treatment for her brain tumors, and once again underwent the extremely debilitating Dartmouth treatment.  After about 8 months of this treatment, it was stopped because her bone marrow was depleted and she could no longer survive the side effects.  Miraculously, and once again, she was declared free of active cancer.

    Her remission was short-lived, however, and the cancer quickly came back.  It continued to progress in her lungs.  It also continued to grow furiously on her skin at the original site, but multiplied at a terrifying rate, and was horrific to see.  The multiple tumors had grown together into a large mass encompassing her left thigh and backside, and generated so much heat; she had to keep an icepack on them to relieve the pain and discomfort. 

    Still, she did not give up.  In the spring of 2011 she tried another clinical treatment, with only minimal results. As soon as she stopped the treatment the cancer starting growing once again. 

    Keith has been a tremendous source of support and love for her throughout this entire battle.  Their daughter, Jessica, is in her final year of college at the University of South Carolina.  Amanda is in her first year of college at Charleston University.  They are beautiful, loving and incredible young women.

    In spite of her battle and her pain and sickness, Nora was always determined to continue to live life to the fullest, and to make sure that we all do too.  She refused to let her cancer interfere with her life events.  Despite her condition, she planned and held a great 50th birthday party for Keith in the spring of 2011.  Despite her condition, she planned and held a fantastic graduation party for Amanda in the summer of 2011.  She insisted that we have a family vacation on the Outer Banks the summer of 2011; she found a home on the beach big enough for all of us and made it happen.  She was not about to take no for an answer. Even though she was so sick for most of the week we were there that she could not get out of bed, it was important to her that we all report the days’ events to her and that we all had a good time together.

    Nora’s message to all of us has always been to fight for your dreams and goals.  Don’t ever give up and don’t blame others for your failures. You may not achieve all that you strive for, but it only matters that you try your hardest and your best.  She is our inspiration and our strength. She is a true warrior and our hero.    

    In late summer of last year, Nora started yet another clinical treatment, which became FDA approved just last year because of its positive results.  Although the side effects were once again very debilitating, she could quickly see her tumors shrinking once again.  

    On December 16, 2011, the doctors declared that her treatment had beaten back her cancer once again.