Thomas G. Hawkins, Jr.

09/02/1961 — 01/26/1985

My brother, Tommy, was diagnosed in 1983 with Melanoma. He had a mole on his right arm and it became infected as he kept hitting it all the time at his job. He finally went in to get it checked out. He was told it was malignant and had to come off.

The mole was removed as well as some more tissue and he had a skin graft. He did radiation and went on with life after the surgery taking good care of himself and doing as the doctor told him.

Later on, the cancer was found elsewhere and eventually spread throughout his body and a tumor formed around his stomach. At that point, it was terminal and there was nothing that could be done.

He died in January of 1985. He and his wife were only a few weeks away from celebrating their 1st anniversary and they had a 4 month old little girl. Their baby girl is now 25 years old and has a child of her own.

My family went through a terrible ordeal but we got through it and grew stronger from it as hard as it was. We miss him very much!

Sister