Katie’s Story

NBC CHANNEL 4 EVERYDAY HERO, July 3rd 2007
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My Melanoma Story:

Only a year and a 1/2 ago, I was a determined, active, healthy 24-year-old ready to attack my goals and start the rest of my life. On June 26th 2006 however, I received the terrifying news that my life was instead about to be attacked by a hidden beast; melanoma skin cancer. After a routine check-up with the dermatologist, I got the crippling phone call while at work. “Katie, if you have a moment, we’ve processed your pathology and I’d like to go over the results with you”. Whether it was her tone of voice, or the dread I felt within the pit of my stomach, I knew my life was forever changed. “We’ve unfortunately found your mole to be malignant melanoma skin cancer.”

That was it. My plans on training for a ½ marathon, moving and advancing my career, my trips for the rest of summer, they all came to a brutal halt, and one that I NEVER imagined would happen to me. How could I have cancer when less then 2 weeks ago I finished a 10k run, felt completely healthy and still had my whole life awaiting me? Although I now know much more than the average person does about melanoma, at the time of my diagnosis, all I knew was that it was uncommon and was the most serious form of skin cancer. I now also know it’s highly aggressive, deadly, hard to detect and for me, COMPLETELY LIFE CHANGING.

The following months consisted of educating myself on the disease, spreading the news to my loved ones, and undergoing 2 serious surgeries to fight this beast. After the dermatologist, I was referred to a surgical oncologist. I luckily live close to a renowned Cancer Center, and found a doctor who specialized in melanoma. Although I was in good hands, I quickly came to the realization that I still had no control over this situation. This feeling came after my first surgery to remove the primary lymph nodes in my upper right leg (where the malignant mole was located). We have lymph nodes everywhere, and the closest ones to my site were in my right groin. The goal of this surgery was to see if the cancer had stayed within my skin, or if it had spread to my body. After recovering for one week, I got the devastating news from my doctor. The cancer had spread to one of my lymph nodes, and within a matter of 2 weeks, my stage was ‘upgraded’ from stage 1 to high-risk stage 3 (out of 4).

The call came while I was home alone, and I wouldn’t wish that experience on my deepest of enemies. Unable to breathe, I laid on my floor shrieking in disbelief while I felt the worst panic rising up my spine. Although it only took 15 minutes for family to arrive, it was the longest, worst moment of my life. Right than and there I knew I was no longer going to fall into the 95% statistically with ‘curable melanoma’, and instead I slowly fell into a very dark, lonely and frightening place.

The purpose of my second surgery was to remove the rest of the surrounding lymph nodes to determine if the cancer had spread elsewhere. Less than 2 weeks after my 1st surgery, I again found myself in the hospital awaiting an even more intense recovery. This time around, the pain was unbelievable, and I was getting shots of morphine intervenesly every hour just to subdue my pain.

Melanoma and my recovery has left me with a 6″ scar on my leg, a 7″ wound on my groin, 2 incision marks where drainage tubes were sutured into my leg, complete numbness and nerve damage. More than a year and a 1/2 later, I still have a ways to go before I’ll be even halfway back to my old self again.

Throughout this nightmare, there have surprisingly been a few positive revelations. The pathology from the 2nd surgery (full lymph node dissection) luckily showed no further melanoma in my nodes and my doctor was able to say he believes me to be CANCER FREE (8/09/06). This by no means my fight with melanoma is over, for I still have a high chance this will reoccur, or that there are a few remaining cancerous cells lingering around. Because of this, I decided to take one more gigantic step and do Interferon for one year, which is a type of immunotherapy (comparable to chemotherapy but less intense).

I have accepted that I will never know exactly why this happened to me. It’s anyone’s guess whether it was simply in my genes and was unavoidable, if my sun-exposure was the reason, or if it was a combination of the two. Although melanoma is more likely in fair-skinned, light haired individuals (like myself), anyone can get it. Like many other young adults, I enjoyed laying out and felt I looked better with some color. It was addictive and I also experienced some bad sun burns (another factor in getting melanoma). I wouldn’t have classified myself as a tanning bed nazi by ANY means, but if I was better EDUCATED on melanoma and my potential for getting it, things might have been different.

About a week after I received the news I was luckily NED (No Evidence of Disease) something just clicked. I was on my way to a party friends were throwing for me when I realized my future. I decided I was going to try and put together a local benefit and raise some money for the Melanoma Research Foundation. I have never done anything more satisfying in my lifetime. I wasn’t an event planner, had little money and in only 2 months we ended up raising over $3,000 for the idea of hope. I witnessed people affected by this horrible disease from the community coming together, throwing their money into this cause and it was simply amazing.

From that first Black Ribbon Benefit came tremendous outcomes. I have turned the BRB into a yearly event as it continues to grow immensely. We are now planning our 4th Annual BRB and to date have raised over $16,000 for the war on melanoma. The MRF awarded a $100,000 research grant with part of our fundraising earnings along with several other melanoma events in April 2007. I quickly began my very new venture as a survivor speaker, and in June 2007 was named an Everyday Hero by my local media. In July I successfully completed my very challenging Interferon chemotherapy treatment and since then have gotten much of my strength and health back.

As I sit here, writing this Benefit and health update today, I cannot predict my future, and I think I’ve finally come to terms with that. I’ve realized what matters most is holding your blessings very close to your heart and appreciating whatever it is in your life that makes it worth living. That is what keeps me going, that and THE IDEA OF HOPE. I know now that spreading hope is the only way we will beat this ugly disease. I’ve realized it truly is the most important thing in the world to ALWAYS maintain hope. Even in those darkest of hours, it should never be lost, for if you deeply believe & have the strength to hope amidst those dark hours, you have already succeeded. Please never loose hope, it’s an incredibly powerful thing that I have seen first hand have the ability to urge me on & keep me breathing.

Love,
Katie

~~~Katie’s War on Melanoma Timeline~~~

6/26/06 – Diagnosed (Stage 1)
7/11/06 – Sentinel Node Biopsy & Wide Leg Excision
(1 of 3 nodes positive, advanced to Stage 3)
7/31/06 –Full Lymph Node Dissection
(8 more nodes removed, 11 total)
8/9/06 –NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE!!!
(All other nodes clean)
9/11/06 –Interferon treatment, 1 year
10/20/06 – 1st Annual Black Ribbon Benefit
($3,500 raised for MRF)
(Research Grant awarded)
4/12/07 – 6 month follow ups, ALL CLEAN SCANS
5/20/07 –Ann’s Hope Melanoma Key Note Speaker
5/29/07 –Anderson’s Army Golf Outing, Speaker and BRB
7/1/07 –Finished Interferon Treatment
7/3/07—NBC 4 ‘Everyday Hero’ aired
8/9/07—1 YEAR CANCER FREE
9/8/07 – 2nd Annual Black Ribbon Benefit
($5,000 raised for MRF)

5/18/08 — Katie’s BRB 1/2 Marathon Run (Cleveland, OH)
($1,025 raised for MRF)
8/9/08 — 2 YEARS CANCER FREE
9/7/08 — 3rd Annual Black Ribbon Benefit
($6,500 raised for MRF)

Joe’s Story:

I will begin with saying my name is Joseph Toth, I am a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Reserves. I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio and moved to Columbus after high school. I am a Veteran of Iraq, a husband, a father, a brother, a son, and a Cancer Survivor. In the short 27 years of my life, I have experienced many aspects of life. In April of 2006 I experienced something new, Cancer. I was in Fort Knox, Kentucky for a flight physical for the army, I was trying to fly helicopters, As I was leaving the hospital from my physical my cell phone beeps with a message. I called my voicemail and it was from my doctor. He had been trying to contact me for hours about the mole he had removed on my left side, but had been u nable to reach me. The only reason he was leaving a message was because he had heard I was getting a physical from the Army. I had Melanoma.  He wanted to see me again as soon as possible. I don’t remember much about the drive home from Fort Knox. It is all a blur. I knew about Melanoma, my grandfather died of it at a young age. My Fiancée at the time was in Kosovo and we were to be married in less than 2 months. How do I tell her I have cancer?
After returning I went back to my doctor and he referred me to a plastic surgeon for something called a Wide Area Biopsy. This means they basically remove a large patch of skin around the original site. The surgery left me with an 11 inch scar on my side and weeks with a drain hanging from my side. The day I had the drain removed was the last time I saw my doctor. I was not referred to an Oncologist or a Dermatologist, I was given no follow up option. “We caught it early, your young; just keep an eye out, you’ll be fine.” I will be honest, I knew very little about my choices and did not grasp how bad the situation could be. I was twenty five years old, how could I have any chance of dieing of cancer? Forty five days later I was married to my beautiful wife. About ninety days later I left for training for deployment in Iraq.
In early December, while working out at the gym in Iraq, I started feeling a pain inside my armpit. I thought maybe it was a lymph node, it was huge and as hard as a rock, and that I had the flu or an infection or something. After talking to a few friends and doing some research I went to “sick call”. Now our post only had a glorified civilian EMT as a medical contactor so I was evacuated to Balad (Where I got to see my brother for a few days) and then to Germany where by the grace of god my Wife happened to be on her way home from Kosovo.  All this happened in a matter of days.
       In Germany the army doctors did an ultrasound on my arm and were pretty convinced it was cancerous. My options were to have the lymph nodes removed there or to travel and stay at Fort Gordon, Georgia and have the surgery done there. I opted for the latter to be close to family and friends. Needless to say, a week later I had another surgery in GA to remove all of the lymph nodes from my left axillary region and our worst fears were discovered. The lymph node was cancerous and was over 4cm in length. I have since returned home and started an Interferon treatment, a form of chemotherapy, at the OSU James Cancer. In the first month I lost almost 25 pounds. Over the course of the year long treatment, my first year at home with my wife, I lost almost 40 lbs and was terribly weak and tired; I could not be active or even walk for long periods of time. It20was a year of misery.
     I began to distance myself from friends and family while sick. I hate myself for doing that but not talking about it seemed to be the best way to deal. I recently tried to find ways to change that online and through research. I missed my life without this. I missed the energy I used to have. I missed the feeling of immortality of youth. Those who knew me when I was younger wouldn’t recognize me. I was no longer “crazy, hyper Joe.” I missed not having to make myself sick by shoving a needle into my skin 3 times a week. So much of life can change overnight. I could not have made it through my treatment without the love and support of my amazing wife.
There is a feeling that you get when you realize how easy it is for life to be cut short, the moment you realize this gift of life can be taken from you in an instant. I have discovered a new found respect for this life we live, and the people who live it with you. I have an amazing companion in my wife, a beautiful healthy daughter and a family who is there for me.
            I write this story because of someone I met during my treatment. About 6 months into my treatment I met a fellow patient named Katie Brennan, She also had Stage III Melanoma and had just completed the very same treatment. Katie had started a benefit, The Black Ribbon Benefit, which was to have its second annual event that September to raise money for Melanoma research. Since that first event, Katie has become a lifelong friend of my wife and I, she has become a companion in the fight against cancer. For the third annual Black Ribbon Benefit, my wife and I helped organize and became more and more involved in the event. We also were able to announce that we were expecting our first child. This September will be our daughter’s first benefit, the goal being to see many more together.
Contact Joe:  jtoth454@aol.com