Kathryn Michelle Lane Lopez
July 17, 1973 - January 6, 2005
In Oct. 2001, Michelle was told that she had a mole that was Melanoma Cancer.
She had the mole removed and tested. Tests came back as cancer, so they took out 3 levels of lymph nodes,
leaving only 2 or 3 so Michelle would not get the large swollen arm that this surgery sometimes cause.
Michelle then had a month of Chemo and after that, she gave herself a shot treatment 3 times a week for 1 year.
6 weeks after the year long treatment, she was told that she has cancer in the liver, lungs and spleen.
The doctors chose to remove the cancer cells in the right lung, so they removed 1/3 of Michelle's lung. After that surgery
she started having headaches and a scan was done, which showed 4 cancer cells in the brain. Novalis Radiation was done
and removed those spots successfully.
Now the IL2 treatments were to begin to try and shrink the cells in the major organs. The first treatment
showed some shrinkage. We were all so very happy that maybe these treatments would remove the cells. But after
several more treatments, Michelle's body became toxic to the IL2. Michelle took one treatment of a mixture of several
cancer drugs. That treatment almost took her life. For 3 hours we had no pulse to speak of and during that time,
it attacked the kidneys and damaged them to Michelle only having 1/2 her kidney function.
In 2004 Michelle was told that she had run out of approved drugs to fight her cancer. She then chose to
go to Bethesda Maryland for clinical trials. These are new drug that have not been approved for use. She said
if it did not do her any good, then her trying them may help someone else.
She was finally able to take the first clinical treatment in December 2004. Soon after returning home,
she became very ill. They gave her medicine to help that. During the Christmas Holidays, I noticed her acting
strangely but figured it was just from the new treatment.
On January 1st, 2005 she could only get one or two words out, so we then knew something very bad was happening.
We called Michelle's doctors in Maryland and they told us to take her to the ER and have some scans done on the brain.
Within 2 weeks since leaving Maryland, her brain had filled full of cancer and she was transferred to Indianapolis to be with
her Oncologist. On the 4th of January Michelle was told that she only had 1 or 2 days of life left. We transferred
her home to be with her 2 daughters, Haley 8 years old and Hanna 5 years old. The family was called in to
say their goodbyes to Michelle. On January 6th,11:15am, in the arms of her Mom and Dad, she went to be with her Lord
and Savior.
For everyone reading this, please have a dermotogist do a full body scan for signs of melanoma cancer, for if
it is found early, it could save your life.
Michelle just found hers too late and it had traveled thru the blood thru her lymph nodes to the major parts
of her body. Most articles that we read, said 5 years is about the longest people survive after finding stage 4 melanoma
cancer. Michelle survived a little over 3 years. October 2001 to January 2005.
God has Michelle in his loving arms and I know she is happy. She had great faith and accepted whatever
she had to do with the knowledge that someday soon she may meet her maker in heaven.
God gave us a special daughter to care for. During those 31 years, we could not have asked for
a more dear, loving and beautiful daughter. Her beauty ran both inside and out. Her viewing kept her father
(Tom) and I (Diane) standing in the same spot for over 8 hours. The overflow of family and friends were such an inspiration
to us. Our knowledge was re-inforced as to the kind, loving person that our daughter was to everyone she met.
Our hearts will always carry the love and sorrow for our Beloved Michelle.
May God's grace shine upon all of you.
The Family of Kathryn Michelle Lane Lopez
