The Journey Begins

Welcome to the Melanoma Angel Network

Here we go…

First and foremost, all please bear with me as I write this, this will not be easy nor will it be fun but to truly understand the depths of this newly created organization it is my goal to share one iota of the passion for which Cindy Halstead (my mother) lived her life.

The formalization of this (the Melanoma Angel Network) has been a long time coming.  What you see today, and will continue to see turn into an incredible community, has been the result of over a decade of personal struggle.

To bring you up to speed, my name is Tyler Halstead I am the founder and creator of the Melanoma Angel Network but in fact I am nothing more than a conduit to what I hope will become a better, more supported, happier life for ALL affected by Melanoma.

I lost my best friend, my role model, my mother to this god awful disease when I was just 19 years old (she was just 43).  Over the last nearly 10 years, I have regularly been asked how does one manage/deal/cope/survive through something as tragic as this.  While nobody has been as direct as I make it sound, the fact of the matter is every person asks the same question… “Tyler, how do you survive something like that?”  I have battled, struggled and fought with this question for far far too long… but I finally know the answer.

I survived because I had to.  I survived because my mom wanted me to.  I survived because my family’s journey through (her) cancer became so much more than that.  Over time and over the years we had created a community… a network… a network of “angels”.  During this time and to this day I have come to realize my emotions weren’t just me, my battles were not my own, and I was never alone.  In everything I did, in every breath I took, in every accomplishment (big or small), in every night I cried myself to sleep Cindy’s Angel Network was there.  I became strong!  I became brave!  I made every possible effort to embody the trait I oh so admired in my Mom.

That is my goal, that is my purpose, that is my vision.  I want the world to know that no matter how high or how low you are at this very moment we are all bonded together through something as awful as cancer… and thank god for that.

Through the Melanoma Angel Network you will never have to be alone!