To be told he had melanoma cancer totally shocked Joel Saunders and his family who live in Fort Wayne, Indiana. An auto technician (window installer), Joel was always extremely healthy and rarely called in sick to work. He has been married to Kimberly for 17 years. They have one child, a daughter, Jadyn, who is now eleven years old. The three of them love the Lord with all their hearts and are members of a local church.
It all began when Joel discovered a pea-sized lump on his shoulder near the base of his neck. After having the lump surgically removed in August 2009, he was diagnosed with melanoma cancer in the lymph node. Later that month Joel had a “modified radical neck dissection” where they removed about 30 more lymph nodes in his neck, jaw, and shoulder areas. Read more
During the summer of 2011, my husband, David, underwent a series of tests which revealed extremely high levels of a certain protein in his blood. As a result, we were referred to the Hematology Department at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, for further evaluation and diagnosis. We were seen in September, 2011, and a bone marrow biopsy was performed to rule out multiple myeloma. Abdominal fat tissue was also biopsied to rule out a rare, potentially fatal, plasma cell dyscrasia called amyloidosis. Unfortunately, the Congo red stain analysis confirmed the presence of the abnormal amyloid protein. We were blindsided and stunned by the diagnosis. We resolved to go about the business of fighting the disease, bolstered by the knowledge that we were at arguably the very best center of excellence for amyloidosis treatment.
