Welcome to the “Westover Alliance” page. Debbie was diagnosed with stage III melanoma back in December 2024, which progressed to stage IV in April 2025. We created this page to share updates about her health, treatments, and journey ahead. So many kind friends and family have asked how they can help — thank you. To make things easier, we've added a "Care Calendar" to the site where you can see specific ways to support us, including meals, transportation, and childcare. At times we may not have specific needs listed but may simply need support via a gift card for a meal delivery or groceries. Debbie’s Melanoma Journey: *Nov 2024 – concern spot biopsied by dermatology, came back positive for melanoma, referred to surgical oncology at Winship at Emory *Dec 19, 2024 – had a “wide local excision” (WLE) of the area around the mole (primary site) to ensure everything had been removed (5 inch incision). She also had a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) from under each arm. 2 lymph nodes were removed from under each arm. The 1st lymph node under each arm had a 2 mm metastatic tumor, but the 2nd lymph node in line was negative. Having small tumors in her lymph nodes made it Stage III Melanoma. *Jan 2025 – About 1.5 weeks after the surgery, the incision on her back “dehisced,” which means a portion of it opened (about 2-3 inches) and resulted in a longer recovery process *Feb 2025 – Debbie was seen by Medical Oncology, and the decision was to pursue immunotherapy. Melanoma is a type of cancer that can easily spread, so the goal of immunotherapy is to “unmask” anything remaining or hiding and to strengthen the immune system to recognize and attack the cancer cells. She had a brain MRI and neck/chest/abdomen CT that did not show anything. *Mar 2025 – She started Keytruda infusions at the beginning of March. The plan was for 1 infusion every 6 weeks for 1 year. *April 2025 – Debbie noticed new bruising and what felt like a lump in her breast. A mammogram and ultrasound showed a small mass, so a biopsy was completed. *May 2025 – The biopsy was positive for melanoma. Another CT was completed, which confirmed the breast mass, as well as several small subcutaneous (soft tissue) nodules in her abdomen, so she restaged to stage IV melanoma. *June/July 2025 – She underwent stronger targeted immunotherapy and received nivolumab (Opdivo) & ipilimumab (Yervoy) every 3 weeks for 4 treatments. *Aug 2025 – Debbie developed GI side effects thought to be from the dual therapy and started undergoing additional testing and evaluation *Sep 2025 – A colonoscopy & EGD were completed, nothing acute was found. The pathology reports showed potential Celiac disease, triggered by the immunotherapy. By October 4, Debbie’s GI symptoms were not improving, even with dietary changes, so she sought care at the cancer center’s Intermediate Care Center (urgent for cancer patients at the hospital) due to increasing fevers and abdominal pain. They discovered she had a large mass that was in her abdomen that would need emergently removed. On October 7, the mass was removed and her small bowel was partially resected.
Debbie is NOT immunocompromised and is open to visitors, but as we enter cold & flu season, we ask people to ensure they are vaccinated and/or wearing masks if wanting to visit. Getting sick will not help her recovery from surgery. We currently do not have specific needs listed on our care calendar due to a line up of family and friends helping around the house. For those wanting to provide a meal, we are asking for meal delivery or grocery gift cards instead. Debbie still potentially has Celiac Disease, and we don't want to take chances with food/cooking while she is recovering. Options are located on the side panel "Wishlist."