Dan Smith

In 1991 Dan Smith had a cancerous mole removed along with skin lesions and 32 lymph nodes. Dan thought he was ok after the surgery but 12 years later he was rushed to the doctor after forgetting his wife's name and an MRI found five lesions in his brain and two in his lungs. Diagnosis: Stage four melanoma. His doctor's gave him 3-4 months to live. He managed to live until January 31 of this year. You can read his story in North Carolina's Mountaineer newspaper.

From the Mountaineer:

Doctors told Ruth that melanoma spreads quickly and likes to burrow into the brain, but she soon figured that our for herself. MRIs and CAT scans showed the cancer multiplying throughout Dan’s body and moving quickly. It showed up in his brain, his lungs, his liver, his pancreas and in his bones.

“Dan believed in ‘if you love someone, tell them,’” said Leo. “Don’t wait until they die. Don’t be afraid to show your soft side. That was basically what we tried to do.”