Life. It’s a precious gift and one often taken for granted.

With many daily routines jam-packed from the time feet hit the floor out of bed, it can be all too easy to overlook the beauty that each new day brings.

But when you’ve survived not one, but two, life-threatening events, every breath brings joy and an opportunity to serve as an inspiration for others. Meet Melissa Villines, my much better half of the last 30 years.

Rewind to September 1976. Melissa spent her 7th birthday in Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. In a coma. She had developed encephalitis, inflammation of the brain brought on by an infection.

The prospects were dire. Doctors told her parents there was no cure and gave no guarantees for her recovery.

God had other plans.

Twenty-eight days into her stay at Vanderbilt, Melissa emerged from her coma. Soon thereafter, she was back at the family’s Bethel Road home and enjoying a normal childhood of playing with friends, going to school, and riding her bicycle.

Melissa was led back to the classroom after she graduated from White House High School and Middle Tennessee State University. In 1992, she began her career molding young minds as an elementary school teacher for Robertson County Schools.

She completed her Masters Degree and went on to give birth to our two children, Brad and Kaylee. Her encephalitis scare was a distant memory.

However, life threw another curveball Melissa’s way in 2017 in the form of a word no one wants to hear.

Cancer.

Colon cancer, to be specific.

Unnerving words became a part of everyday vocabulary: port, surgery, chemotherapy. Twelve chemo treatments plus numerous doctor visits at Tennessee Oncology followed. Amazingly, Melissa kept teaching, even on days where she was pushed to the point of exhaustion the night before.

That fighting spirit — and a heavy dose of prayers from family and friends — made a difference. A huge one. 

Melissa is officially cancer free and has been given a clean bill of health from doctors. Soon her port will be removed for good. 

Year number 31 of teaching is almost in the books. She says her love of educating second-graders will keep her in the classroom for many years to come.