57 Year-Old Energetic Mother Fought Mesothelioma. Aliso Viejo, CA

Shelley Ketchum was a kind and compassionate woman who always put others before herself. She was a loving daughter, wife, and mother throughout her life. In 1999, Shelley reduced her work hours to care for her mother Oma who was suffering from dementia and the beginning stages of Alzheimer's.

Any caretaker can tell you about the stress and grief that accompany caring for someone else through an illness. That's why, in the final year of Oma's illness in 2005, Shelley disregarded her fatigue and shortness of breath, attributing it to six years of tending to her mother and working. When her symptoms persisted after her mother's passing, Shelley decided to see a doctor.

More than Grief Shelley consulted her primary care physician, who thought she might have bronchitis. He prescribed antibiotics, but she did not get better. The next month, she returned to the medical center where doctors performed a thoracentesis and drained almost two liters of fluid from around her lung. Cytology testing on the fluid was negative for cancer. Shelley still did not get better. She decided to undergo a thoracotomy and talc pleurodesis to prevent further fluid accumulation. This time, the pathology report using immunohistochemical staining and later confirmed by pathologist Dr. Henry Tazelaar of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, returned a diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma, epithelial type.

Shelley did some research and soon afterwards she consulted with a leading mesothelioma expert, Dr. Robert Cameron, Chief of Thoracic Surgery at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Cameron informed her about current medical options for mesothelioma patients and recommended a trimodal approach to her treatment. The first phase would be a surgical reduction of the tumor, a procedure called a pleurectomy with decortication to remove the bulk of the tumor that was encapsulating her lung. She underwent this surgery and soon started to make her recovery.

Shelley followed the surgery with the next phase of treatment, including 30 rounds of radiation. The radiation took a very hard toll on Shelley, but she finally felt well enough to return to work, which is what she wanted most. But her time back in the office and living a full life only lasted three months, as Shelley soon found that she no longer had the strength to carry on her work day. Shelley was hopeful that the next course of action, chemotherapy using a combination of Alimta and Cisplatin, would help her once again return to work and enjoy life. This combination has proven very effective for others with the disease; unfortunately Shelley's body did not take to it.

Trading Roles

For the first time in her life, Shelley was no longer the caregiver. She became the one who needed care. Her husband, Michael, had passed away in 1991. The only one who could look after her was her only son Miles. Fortunately, Miles lived nearby and worked from home, so he was able to care for her during Shelley's surgery and radiation treatments. He was a constant companion to his mother. Through it all, Miles and Shelley kept a positive and upbeat outlook. Miles left work to help during the Chemotherapy phase, which proved to be a blessing in disguise. The bond between mother and son became even richer, if such a thing is possible. Paradoxically, through a tragic illness, strength, understanding, love, and courage grow stronger. Shelley passed away on February 27, 2007

Click here for a video tribute to Shelley from her son Miles.

*** POSTED APRIL 18, 2007 ***