Outskirts Press, INC.

This is Miss Melanie M. Balzer’s story after her diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Her tenacity, perseverance and unwavering positive attitude are described in entries we posted on her Caring Bridge website from October 2016 through December 2020. These entries were written as events happened and presented our emotions at that time.

Miss Melanie’s roller coaster journey included dangerous bacterial fevers in her blood during chemotherapy and multiple doctors refusing her a lifegiving stem cell transplant. In response to lymphoma of her central nervous system one doctor said “we don’t know how to treat this.” After brain surgery, weeks of cognitive therapy restored her short-term memory. Next, came plummeting blood counts, and fungal pneumonia.

Through it all Miss Melanie remained positive, focused on getting better and living her life as she had before her illness. You will be captivated by this remarkable lady who said after her initial diagnosis, “If you’re going to be full of gloom and doom, get out now. If you can’t be positive, I do not want you around. We will take it a day at a time and I will be fine.”

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