Statistics are easily found regarding the number of cancer cases per year in the United States. For example, the American Cancer Society states colon cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and women combined in the United States, estimating 136,830 people will be diagnosed in 2014. The American Cancer Society also has data on melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, which will account for more than 76,000 cases of skin cancer in 2014.
There are no statistics for when cancer strikes the same family simultaneously. But this is the plight currently facing Mansfield husband and wife Greg and Debbie Melching. Greg Melching was diagnosed with melanoma in December 2013; Debbie Melching was diagnosed with colon cancer in March 2014.
“Everybody has been asking me what they can do, but there’s nothing they can do except pray,” said Debbie Melching.
The diagnoses have taken the Melchings away from their work with the Autism Awareness Walk-A-Thon, an event Debbie Melching founded approximately nine years ago after her grandson Daylin was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. Since then, the walk-a-thon has taken place on the third Saturday of each September in order to raise money for Autism Awareness. The funds that are generated from the walk stay in Richland County to help provide local families with services that pertain to autism.
“Debbie is such a sweetheart,” said Attorney Deborah Mack, JD/MBA, who has known the Melchings for the past seven years. “What she’s always sending out is just overwhelming. The number of people she’s helped over the years is tremendous. There are all these resources out there, and when you go to Debbie you get ‘plugged in’ through all the local programs.”
After hearing about the cancer diagnoses, Mack decided to help the family responsible for helping hundreds of other families in Richland County. She opened up a benefit account at Richland Bank for the Melchings under the Greg and Debbie Melching Benefit Fund.
“The freakiness of somebody who has helped hundreds and hundreds of other people and has put back hundreds of thousands of dollars back into our community only for Richland County, and the chances…I don’t know if you could find a statistic of the probability of a single family both getting different types of cancer,” said Mack. “It’s bad enough having cancer but when your whole family is being ripped apart and you have all these things happen, you’ve got to do it. You’ve got to help.”
Mack is not the only one who has helped the Melchings. On March 22, the VFW Post 3494 in Mansfield hosted a fundraiser for Greg Melching mere days after Debbie Melching was diagnosed with a 10-inch malignant colon tumor. However, with Greg Melching unable to work since December 2013 and disability benefits only starting in June, Mack said most of the funds raised at the benefit have been exhausted.
“They’re able to get some help, but it’s not enough,” said Mack.
According to Debbie Melching, what started as a melanoma diagnosis for her husband of 42 years has spread everywhere except his brain now. She cares for Greg in between her own chemotherapy and radiation treatments, along with caring for her 83-year-old mother.
“I’m worried about Greg, I’m not worried about myself; I’m going to be fine,” said Debbie Melching. “I’ve done great with my treatments, I haven’t gotten sick and I haven’t had the things everybody else gets, and I think that’s because I need to stay strong for him. [Greg] is worried about not being able to go to treatments with me and worried about not helping with the walk this year.”
This year’s ninth annual Autism Awareness Walk-A-Thon will be held on Saturday, Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Richland County Fairgrounds. Mack said through everything, the walk-a-thon has helped keep Debbie Melching going.
“That’s what’s keeping her nose above water, because everything else is overwhelming her,” said Mack. “It keeps her stable and gives her a lifeline, if people have a good turnout for the autism walk-a-thon, it helps her keep everything else in proportion.”
Donations for the Melching family can be made at Richland Bank. For more information about the Autism Awareness Walk-A-Thon, contact Debbie Melching at 419-589-8762 or aawdeb@yahoo.com
