Celebrating One SWEET Grad, Shannon!

In the fall of 2014, Shannon had a tiny red spot on her head that wouldn’t heal. It looked like a bug bite that she had picked at too much. At her regular check-up with her pediatrician, she got it checked out. They referred Shannon to see a dermatologist.

In the few months after Shannon first discovered the spot, it had grown to almost the size of a half-dollar. The surgeon called with the pathology results the following week, he said it was melanoma. Shannon was 13 at the time. After the spot was completely removed it was diagnosed as Nodular Melanoma, Stage 3c. It is the most aggressive type and rare in girls her age.

Shannon had 6 surgeries which included removing 63 lymph nodes in her neck, the salivary gland from her left cheek, and scalp reconstruction. She had a difficult year of treatment but handled it all amazingly well. Shannon had been cancer-free for just over two years when she found a lump on her side under her skin. She had yet another surgery to remove it. The pathology results confirmed the melanoma had returned. She was now Stage 4, as it had metastasized.

With the recurrence, Shannon began traveling to St. Jude. She had scans and other tests that discovered she had more internal tumors. She began another year of treatment. Along the way, she had brain and abdominal surgery to remove the few tumors which weren’t responding to her treatments. She had one more surgery to remove a spot on the back of her thigh. Her thyroid stopped functioning due to the treatments, so now she will be on thyroid medication forever.

Shannon is now 18 years old and a five year cancer survivor! She celebrated two years of her status being NED (No Evidence of Disease) on April 3, during her senior year of high school. Amidst a pandemic, it was something amazing to celebrate!

This gorgeous dancing butterfly graduation cake was created by Dawn from Cake Me Away for Shannon’s High School Graduation. The ceremony was postponed twice due to COVID-19, but on July 25th, 2020, she finally got to celebrate! Even if the ceremony ended up getting canceled, Shannon knew she still had an awesome cake to look forward to that day. After so many canceled events during her senior year, this cake is truly a celebration of her achievements, courage, and resilience.

With smiles + cake,

Olivia Graupmann

The Blog Team 

www.icingsmiles.org