To our friends, family, & many more... As you may have heard, a big piece of our family who is both my mom & my best friend as well as my family’s rock has recently experienced a few life changing events to say the least. These events have caused our lives to be altered in a multitude of ways. My mom, Katie, had some strange symptoms including balance issues and loss of motor skills at the end of May. She went into the doctor claiming that something was wrong. This led to a series of tests to be run including a CT scan which resulted in the finding of three lesions on her brain. In addition, another CT scan was performed, showing a mass in the lungs as well as problematic, or abnormal, lymph nodes. Within a 48 hour period, there was a fourth mass that formed in her brain, causing such a great amount of pressure and swelling that her body was beginning to shut down. On Saturday, June 5th, she was airlifted to the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Hospital where she then had an emergency sub-occipital craniotomy on Sunday, June 6th. While the surgery was extremely risky, our mom came out with a few new scars and two less lesions on the brain! Also, while she is recovering well from brain surgery, we are still awaiting an official diagnosis from her lung biopsy; however, we are ready for the long road ahead of us. Thank you to everyone who has brought over flowers, sent cards, helped provide us with meals, and kept both my mom and our family in your prayers throughout these difficult times as it is what has kept us going! We appreciate all of you and your endless support! Love always, Madilyn & family ***UPDATE*** Previously I chose to leave out some details as the diagnosis was still unsure at the time; however, we have received a confirmed diagnosis of cancer. In addition, as the doctors had suspected, my mom has malignant melanoma. For future updates please follow the page by creating an account so you get notifications regarding the “updates” section!