Kelli’s personal story

In 1999, I was just a normal 15-year-old in high school. My twin sister and I did everything together. I loved to play volleyball and paint. Then, out of nowhere, I developed a spot on the left side of my chest, but my doctor wasn't concerned and life went on.

Over a year, that mole grew to the size of a nickel, changed multiple colors, became irregular shapes, and started to itch and bleed. Just by looking at it my dermatologist knew it was cancer. I was diagnosed with melanoma at 16 years old.

The cancer spread to my lymph nodes and I was stage 3. After multiple surgeries and a year of interferon treatments, I graduated high school, moved to New York, and started college. I was in remission for 5 years when my cancer came back in my lungs. At 21 years old, I had stage 4 melanoma and a 10% chance of surviving. After two rounds of IL2 treatments, I was cured.

I was able to graduate college, get married and start a family. I am so excited to be celebrating life, my 3 beautiful babies and being more than 10 years cancer free!