Meleah and Allen Flynn recently wrote a letter to Blessing Health System president and CEO, Maureen Kahn. The following is their account of Meleah's health journey since July 2019. 

Just a quick note about us: Meleah and I are still relatively young. She is 52. I am 50. We have three daughters and six grandchildren. We live in Barry, Illinois. We do our best to live a God-centered life. We now find ourselves leaning on Him more than we ever thought possible.

On July 21, 2019, we came to the Blessing Emergency Center because Meleah was having stomach pain. We don’t get sick. We don’t ever go to the hospital. In fact, we didn’t even have a primary doctor because we are very healthy normally. But this pain was severe enough to warrant a visit.

A short time after being checked in and a CT scan done, our world came crashing down with the words, “We found a mass.” Three days later, Meleah had surgery to remove her appendix, a tennis ball-sized mass on her colon, and about three feet of her colon. She was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

At the Emergency Center that evening, they also informed us that Meleah was diabetic with a blood sugar level of 395 at that time.

Meleah is undergoing chemotherapy. The doctor told us that there is no cure for this cancer, but we hope to be able to control it. If the treatment does what we hope it will, we then will begin a “chemo for life” maintenance program. 

Our days of no doctors is over. But, from the moment we entered the hospital to our current treatment, it has been an unbelievable experience. Through everything, it has never been a single person battle. This has been a team fight. Battles are more easily won when you have an army taking you through it. This is what we have found with every person in the Blessing Health System. Our army grew in size over those first several weeks. We have dug in and are fighting the battle. It would be impossible to name all of the people involved in our care but we would like to point out several groups that stand out in our mind. This list, by far, does not diminish the care by those not listed. But, as we said, it would be impossible to list all of them.

The entire nursing staff on 5 South: It is hard to know where to begin. They were amazing, delivering constant, unwavering and compassionate care. There were times when we wondered how they were taking care of the other patients because it seemed as if they were always there with us when we needed them.

Dr. Emmauel Bessay of Blessing Physician Services: A great surgeon, and his office staff consists of wonderful people who deliver wonderful care.  When you walk in, you don’t feel like a patient. You feel like a friend. The care we received from them was exceptional.

Dr Bassel Jallad, nurse practitioner Leah Heming and the entire medical oncology staff: Wow, wow, wow! They have been awesome. The day after our diagnosis, Dr. Jallad and Leah came into our room. We were still in a fog, trying to process the fact that we had joined the group of people with cancer. They introduced themselves and said, “We are part of your team and are going to fight this with you.” Until you are faced with this situation, you can’t understand what those simple words mean to someone. It was at that point that we knew we were not alone in this.

The Blessing medical oncology office staff is incredible. Every visit isn’t just “another doctor visit.” It is a time of appreciation. We look at them in awe of how professional yet caring they are. We want to mention a special thank you to Rosie, office coordinator. She must have a sixth sense that knows every time we are in need, because without us mentioning a thing, that helps comes.

As we said, we didn’t have a doctor. We knew it was time to change that. During our hospital stay, the nursing staff gave us a list of primary care providers. We wanted to go with a female for primary care. Through a set of fortunate circumstances, an appointment was arranged for us with Kerri Henderson, nurse practitioner in the Blessing Physician Services’ office of Dr. Andrew Dunn. We quickly realized this was a God thing. Within minutes of being in her office, we were sharing our testimonies of faith. We cannot begin to tell you what this meant to us. Out of all the doctors and nurse practitioners in the Blessing Health System, we were placed directly into the path of one who shared our faith. She has been a light for us in a very dark situation. Her words of comfort and the care you see in her actions have been something to which we have clung.

When our care transitioned to the Blessing Infusion Center, we met an entirely new set of amazing people. These ladies make an intolerable time easy for us, or at least as easy as chemotherapy can be. As with the others, they don’t treat Meleah like a patient. We are treated like members of this team that has coalesced. The care is unbelievable.

Lastly, the Blessing Foundation: Once again words of appreciate escape us. We can never begin to express how much they meant to us. The support they have shown our family as we go though this is unbelievable.

The Blessing Health System has truly been a blessing to our family.