Friends and family turned out in droves Sunday for a Rumble and Rally for Monica Sellman, who is being treated for a rare form of skin cancer.
The rally, consisting of a meal and auction, will help cover expenses incurred by Sellman, who must travel to Rochester, Minn., for treatment and a clinical study.
She twice has been diagnosed with melanoma, first in 2009, and then again this past summer.
While the cancerous spots have been removed surgically both times, subsequent genetic testing revealed Sellman remains at risk for the cancer to return. She also is susceptible to other variations of cancer, including pancreatic cancer.
But since her melanoma was at stage 2B, the government regulates the medication she can take. (Had she been at stage 3 or 4, she would have been eligible to get local treatment.)
That led her to the clinical study at Rochesters Mayo Clinic.
The concern now is that my cancer will come back in a location that is not curable, she wrote. Thats why treatment is necessary to kill off the bad cells.
She underwent her first treatment Oct. 22, with a number of follow-up appointments scheduled over the next several months.
The clinical study covers only the medication and lab work.
I hope by sharing my experience, that it will help someone else, she wrote in a summation about her diagnosis. My goal is to beat this and help our cancer research find a cure.
