Melanie Marie Dang

Visitation will be held from 12-2p.m. on Wednesday, February 8, at the Runge Mortuary. Memorials may be made to the family or Rescued.

Melanie was born March 23, 1970 to Gary and Linda (Fittro) Newman in Fort Belvoir, VA. She worked for many years as legal secretary. On April 4, 2015, she was united in marriage to Tuan Dang.

Many of you know our love story and have followed it from the beginning. We have known each other since the fourth grade. I was the shy nerd and she was the athlete. She was all arms and legs but was one of the few in the area to win the Presidential fitness award. I crushed on the redhead but of course was too shy to talk to any girls. Jr high and high school, I didn't see much of her and then life went on. She married and moved away. I went to college, married and that was supposed to be it for our story. My marriage didn't last and neither did hers.

Facebook reconnected us and in 2013, she moved back to the Quad cities to help her mom and dad. I asked her to go see a movie with me. She said she was working in the yard all day but I got her to go. I remember how nervous I was walking up to her parent's house to get her. The entire time at the movie, I kept stealing glances at her. We went out again for dinner and drinks the next night. That's when I summoned all the courage I had to say to her "I'm gonna kiss you", and I did without giving her a chance to respond.

You were able to witness our first concert when we officially dated. Matchbox twenty was her favorite. She stared at Rob Thomas while I stared at her. Many of you witnessed me getting down on one knee to propose on New Year’s Eve at Icon's. We shared our wedding pics from Florida and I still couldn't believe this beautiful woman choose me.

Sadly you also shared the hardships that life threw at us. Her dad died suddenly and tragically after surgery, two open heart surgeries, a heart attack, back fusion, and finally cancer. Through it all, she was able to raise two young grandchildren when DCFS placed them in our custody sight unseen. Evie, the youngest, was two months old.

Someone described our love story as magical and I will agree. I was so glad to share everything on social media because I wanted people to see what I saw and feel what I felt. It was our real life version of “The Truman Show”.

Like most stories, there's an ending. Ours was tragic and it will affect me for the rest of my life. She fought so hard against this cancer. She didn't want to leave me alone even though the pain and this insidious disease was destroying her. Saturday morning on February 3rd, just a little after 8, she motioned her mom and I over to the bed. She wanted us to hold her hands on each side of the bed. She couldn't talk. We both spent time telling her how much we loved her. Her eyes watering as her breaths became harder and harder. She knew she was leaving us and this was her goodbye.

I can't stop sobbing as I'm trying to finish this. My tears making it hard to see. I want to thank you all for supporting us and following our journey. She was my everything and I was hers. You dream of a love like this and we were fortunate to have it, if only momentarily. I love you all. From her loving husband, Tuan.

Those left to cherish her memory are her beloved husband, Tuan; daughters, Brittany Guthrie and Ragan Bax; step-son, Joel Dang; granddaughters: Jaida, Karlie, Ireland, and Evangeline; mother, Linda Newman; mother-in-law, Tuyet Nguyen; along with numerous extended family members.