31. Melissa Marshall on Overcoming Cancer

Melissa Marshall, of the, No You Cant’cer Foundation,  was diagnosed with stage III Colorectal Cancer and ended up receiving a colostomy bag in 2013. This meant that, for the rest of her life, she would be living with an ostomy bag.

A picture of Melissa

Today she is here to share her journey through this difficult time and the beautiful story of how she defeated Cancer and created the No You Cant’cer Foundation.  She was able to overcome the odds and return to her singing career.

Melissa Marshal is from North Miami Beach in  Florida. She is a singer, dancer, entertainer,   performer, and songwriter. Melissa has performed for over 30 years now, in most of the casinos in Atlantic City.

Discovering Cancer

Melissa was going to need a hip replacement as the cartilage had worn down, likely from dancing. She had just turned 50 and was about 3 1/2 weeks away from surgery.

She knew she had been rectally bleeding for over a year and had only spoken to her husband about it. They thought it was a hemorrhoid or something metabolic, never did she think it was cancer.

A light bulb went off and she had it checked out by a Colorectal surgeon recommended by her OB. She told the doctor what was going on and then had a test done right then and there.

The next moment, she told Melissa that she had a very large mass very low down leaning against her rectum. Within 10 minutes, she had a prescription to go for 4 tests in 5 days. She left her office and called her husband and told him she thought she thought she had cancer.

Her husband was in disbelief and didn’t think it could be.

Next, she went for a colonoscopy and was under for over two hours. The doctor had to cut away the tumor and had she not, Melissa tells us she wouldn’t be here today.

Melissa urges anyone that has experienced rectal bleeding, get checked out by a doctor.

The Journey To Treat Cancer

Everything was sent for testing and in 4 days Melissa received the call it was cancer and she would have to have a colostomy bag and would likely never be able to regain control of her Sphincter.

The scariest part was that Melissa didn’t know if she would be able to sing again. The muscles needed to be cut and this caused a lot of pain and made for a long recovery.

She spent 13 days in the hospital and opens up to us that she was in a lot of shock.

Listen to the rest of her inspiring story here to hear her journey and path to healing on most podcast platforms or on Anchor Here.

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