Tara's Story

April 2010 changed Tara Simantel Parla’s life forever.  

Tara, as many others, spent a good deal of time in the sun, but she always kept up with her dermatology appointments as her mother was diagnosed with melanoma 15 years earlier. During a regular checkup, the doctor removed a few moles for biopsy and then called her the very next day after her appointment, to tell her she had Stage 3 malignant melanoma.

Tara saw the surgeon within the week. The first surgery that followed removed the cancerous lesion plus several lymph nodes under her arm. When two of the lymph nodes were positive for cancer, a second surgery of a radical lymphadenectomy was done to remove all the lymph nodes on her right side. The follow-up treatment required having a port surgically implanted and chemotherapy for a year after surgery. The chemo includes Interferon, one of the most difficult chemo drugs to tolerate.

Tara finished her long and difficult journey of the interferon treatment in December. Despite some crazy side effects as a result of an allergy to the chemo drug, she was doing very well. Life without taking that drug every 3 days brought her to a whole new level of appreciation for life. Tara cherished feeling well and spending time with her family doing all of the things that she missed out on over the last 16 months. At this point in her fight she was considered a survivor.

Then December 28, 2011 changed her life yet again. She had been having chest pains and the doctors were considering doing an open chest surgery to remove the lymph nodes in my chest cavity as they had shown some swelling. She was scheduled for a routine brain scan and CT scan to get a baseline for the surgery. She went in for the brain scan on the 28th and finished at 3 p.m. By 3:15 she had a phone call that she needed to be in the doctor’s office in 30 minutes with her husband. What followed was some shocking information. They arrived and within 15 minutes she had an IV in her arm and was being treated with steroids to lower the swelling in her brain that was covering 10+ tumors. She was then sent to a radiation center where she was fitted for a mask that she would wear when she started radiation the following day. Tara also had CT scans that show spots on her liver and lungs. She has since completed 20 treatments of radiation and will start her new chemo within a few weeks. She is in a battle for her life once again. She is now considered late Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma to the brain, liver, and lung. She knows that the statistics are grim but is very upbeat about the recent advances in Melanoma medications and hopeful that the radiation has eradicated as many tumors as possible.

She still stays very focused on prevention—to do all she can to raise awareness. Through her disease, The Passion Foundation was born. Their goal is to raise funds to cover playgrounds with shade tents to help decrease the sun exposure of our children. We all can help mitigate melanoma by providing shade for our children.

Click the button below to donate to The Passion Foundation.