In Loving Memory of Janice (Bailey) Felix

Janice A. (Bailey) Felix

December 15, 1952 – August 28, 2026

Janice’s journey with uveal melanoma began unexpectedly in May 2024, when a routine eye exam revealed a tumor in her eye. Later that month, she underwent brachytherapy to treat the tumor.

Only a few months later, in the fall of 2024, scans brought the devastating news that the cancer had already spread to her liver. From that moment, the battle became relentless.

It was Janice’s battle, but she never faced it alone. In the months that followed, her daughter sold her parents’ home in Southern California, packed up their lives, established Janice’s care with a top oncologist at Emory University Hospital, and stood beside her through every appointment, treatment, scan, setback, and turn. In May 2025, Janice and Nelson made the cross-country move to Georgia, bringing the family together for the difficult chapter ahead.

When Janice first established care at Emory, her metastatic disease appeared to be confined to her liver. Because she was HLA-A*02:01 positive, she qualified for Kimmtrak, one of the very few treatments developed specifically for metastatic uveal melanoma. The treatment caused severe cytokine release syndrome, including dangerous drops in her blood pressure and blood sugar and an admission to the intensive care unit. She survived that terrifying ordeal, but her body ultimately could not tolerate continued treatment.

Janice then underwent four rounds of combined ipilimumab and nivolumab immunotherapy. In December 2025, scans revealed that the treatment had not stopped the disease. The cancer had progressed extensively throughout her liver and beyond. Eventually, her doctors advised that no additional systemic treatment options remained. Even then, her family continued searching and asking about liver-directed treatments, clinical trials, and emerging therapies; anything that might give her more time.

As the disease advanced, it demanded more and more from her physically, bringing increasing pain, swelling, weakness, and loss of mobility. Janice entered hospice care at home, but she guarded her independence ferociously and refused to allow cancer to become the whole of her story. She continued to make plans, seek out joy, laugh, drink her coffee, and savor the life she had built with the people she loved. Even as cancer took her strength, it never took her force of will.

Janice died at home on August 28, 2026. Her battle required extraordinary courage, endurance, and sheer determination. She endured more than any person should ever be asked to endure and remained fully, fiercely, and unmistakably herself until the very end.

Janice’s family hopes that donations made in her memory will help create what she, and so many others with metastatic uveal melanoma, did not have enough of: effective treatment options, more time with the people they love, and the enduring hope of a cure.