Meet Melanie (aka “Melly”)
Melanie Leigh Faye Zimmerman born September 23rd, 2021 in Grand Forks, ND. She was born with Trisomy 21 (down syndrome). Trisomy 21 can come with a lot of medical issues such as heart conditions, digestive conditions and many more. Melanie was blessed with none of these. She spent the first 10 days in the NICU for monitoring and then was able to come home to her 4 furry brothers and sister, aka Mr. Cheddar, Mr. Gary, Miss Pretties, and Mr. Snoopy (Mellys personal vacuum). What was even more special was that she was reunited with her big brother, Steven, and big sister, Jasmine.
With trisomy 21, Melly has done a lot of therapies and early prevention, from having to wear a helmet due to the shape of her head to braces for walking, along with speech therapy and any others help with any delays that she is expected to have. Melanie rocked all of this, exceeding goals – walking without braces and starting to talk. She was doing great and thriving, hitting goals early. While she is still a little behind on some things, but for her diagnosis, she is an amazing story.
Over the summer leading to her 3rd birthday, she was not feeling well and her family assumed it was because she was finally teething. She started school and was so excited. After 1 week of her going, her parents noticed she was abnormally tired. She wasn’t wanting to stand or walk, which was odd for a kid that never sat still. The school shared they had to carry her everywhere. Ruling out lack of sleep and other things, her parents noticed that her one ankle was swollen and took her to be checked out immediately. They thought maybe she sprained it, twisted it or something like that and brought her in to get her checked. Nothing was shown on x-rays and still needing answers, her family went to the Roseau clinic to get a second opinion. They insisted on blood work since their gut knew something was not right with their Melly.
About 20 minutes away from home, the hospital called and told them to come back immediately. The blood work showed outrageously crazy numbers. Her platelets were at 7 and her hemoglobin was at 2. They were told that they were going to Bemidji to a doctor who specialized in pediatric oncology, but on their way home to get ready to go, the plan shifted to Fargo and Sanford Children’s Hospital/Roger Maris. Nothing could have prepared them for what happened when they got there. She immediately had a biopsy, a spinal tap and started chemotherapy – all before even having a confirmed diagnosis. It was then confirmed that their little girl had cancer, and her longer-term treatment journey began.
Despite her diagnosis of cancer and Trisomy 21, this little lady loves to be outside exploring, checking things out, running barefoot in the grass. In fact, shoes are nonexistent for this ‘lil crazy (one of her nicknames).
Melanie has her family learning how to be more patient, and to cope with her limitations. Filled with determination, they find ways to help Melanie express herself and do this with endless love.
Please keep Melanie and her family in your prayers as she navigates her medical journey.