In 2001, Allyson Allred was diagnosed with ocular melanoma, a rare form of eye cancer with no known cause that affects about five in a million people.
Now, as she receives treatment from an ocular melanoma specialist in Philadelphia, some of Allred’s friends from Birmingham have started a GoFundMe campaign to help with some of the living and medical expenses she incurred because of her treatment.
Allred graduated from Auburn in 1992 and has had recurrent metastases since her original diagnosis in 2001. The cancer has shown up all over her body — her liver, breasts, kidneys and now, her brain, to name a few.
“I really, actually believe that the Lord has already healed me," Allred told The Plainsman in May, just weeks after doctors found a malignant tumor in her brain. "I just feel like he has healed me all this time, for 17 years, and I believe that he will continue to do that.”
While in Philadelphia, Allred is receiving treatment as an outpatient at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, where her ocular melanoma specialist works.
“Allison is there for an experimental treatment that is rare and dangerous,” said Lauren Hixon, a close friend of Allred’s. “This is a really difficult thing she’s going through physically, but it’s kind of all that they’re left with at this point.”
Because of her cancer and how it’s weakened her body, Allred requires assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She needs either friends or family with her at all times, and since her family lives in Alabama, this requires frequent flights to and from Philadelphia. The cost of friends’ and family’s travel back and forth on top of the cost of medical care has quickly added up, according to Hixon.
“Our goal is $15,000,” Hixon said. “Her dad’s words were that that would be just a drop in the bucket, but it would certainly help.”
In just nine days, the campaign has raised $10,325.
“She has just been very humbled by it,” Hixon said about how Allred has reacted to the response to the GoFundMe campaign. “She’s extremely grateful for everyone’s support, and it’s really alleviated some of the burden of how to get people to her to help take care of her.”
Allred isn’t alone in her fight, though. She and three of her close friends, who all attended Auburn, have been diagnosed with the extremely rare ocular melanoma, and the link between Auburn and ocular melanoma doesn’t stop there.
“We have 26 verified cases of ocular melanoma over more than a 40 year span of people who have either attended or worked for Auburn University,” said Auburn University Medical Clinic medical director Dr. Fred Kam.
As reported in previous articles from The Plainsman, the number of people who say they have been affected by the disease is growing and at a rate that appears to be grossly disproportional to Auburn's population. In May, the number was 20 and has grown since then.
The high number of cases related to Auburn has attracted national media attention. Most notably, though, People Magazine published an article in July of this year entitled, “Dozens of Auburn University Alumni Suffering Deadly Eye Cancer in Desperate Race For a Cure: ‘Our Lives Are At Stake.’”
“After that article came out in People Magazine, Dr. Kam went to the University on our behalf and just advocated for us, and the University has decided to pay for the geospatial analysis,” said Ashley McCrary, one of the women close to Allred who has been diagnosed with ocular melanoma. “There are three arms to the research, and that’s one of the arms. That could cost anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 to pay for that.”
The research aims to determine what is causing the surge of ocular melanoma cases related to Auburn, as reported earlier by The Plainsman.
This week, Allred, McCrary and two other women who have been diagnosed with the cancer traveled to New York to tape a Dr. Oz episode. Updates about when the episode will air can be found on the “Auburn Ocular Melanoma” Facebook page.
To learn more about Allred’s fight against cancer in Philadelphia or to donate, the GoFundMe campaign can be found here.
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