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Austintown couple survive cancer hand-in-hand, led Relay
Austintown
Margie Melfe was diagnosed with melanoma in 1998. Her husband, Gregg, was diagnosed with cancer of the head and neck 13 years later.
Friday night, they led the survivors lap of Austintown’s Relay for Life around the track at Fitch High School.
Gregg, 51, learned he had cancer on April 1, 2011 — April Fool’s Day — but it was no laughing matter, he said.
“No one said ‘April Fool’s’ after I was done with that one,” he said.
He immediately started receiving treatments at Cleveland Clinic that year and has been cancer-free for two years.
“It will absolutely rock your world,” Gregg said in reference to the day he found out.
Their son was preparing to graduate from high school, and one moment Gregg said he’ll never forget is a conversation he had with his son.
“There was a lot of uncertainty,” Gregg said. “He came up to me, as he’s preparing to go to college, and said, ‘Dad I’m not going to college, am I?’ We had to overcome a lot of things.”
His son is now enrolled at West Virginia University where he studies petroleum engineering.
But this wasn’t the first time cancer rocked his world. He was Margie’s rock during a trying time in her life.
“My wife and I are both survivors/caregivers,” Gregg said. “She was my caregiver, and she pushed me when I didn’t want to be pushed.”
Margie found out she had skin cancer after an unplanned trip to the doctor. Their son was 2 years old, and Gregg wasn’t home when the doctor called. “I couldn’t breathe,” she said after the doctor told her that her life depended on how deep the cancer had traveled into her skin.
Luckily, for Margie, she had a surface melanoma that was removed and didn’t require any chemotherapy treatments. A large area of her leg, however, had to be cut out by her doctor, she said. She has been cancer-free since.
“I was lucky,” Margie said. “I think it was my guardian angel that sent me to the doctor’s. I had no reason to go to the doctor’s.”
She acknowledged that though she survived, it wasn’t easy when she found out Gregg was diagnosed.
“It was the worst April Fool’s Day of our lives. I think we cried for the first 48 hours.”
That’s when support from friends, family and people they didn’t even know came pouring in.
A man they didn’t know who had the same thing called suggesting they go to Cleveland Clinic, Margie said, adding, “The doctors up there were amazing.”
The day came for Gregg to ring the Clinic’s ceremonial survival, but he doesn’t record it as the day he won the fight.
“You become a survivor the minute you’re diagnosed,” Gregg said. “Every day you’re alive, you’re surviving.”
Jenifer Pemberton, co-chair for Austintown’s Relay, said its goals have been increasing each year since she has been involved. In her first year as co-chair, the event raised about $60,000; last year it was more than $100,000.
“Our goal this year is to raise $125,000,” Pemberton said.
They were already more than half way to that goal before the start of Friday’s relay, she said. Twenty-four teams are participating.
“Fortunately, Austintown’s a great community, so everybody steps up, helps and gets us here,” Pemberton said.