shealy was diagnosed with melanoma in  and given a  chance of survival twenty-five years later in august  he announced that the cancer had recurred the brain tumor affected the portion of shealys brain that influences the ability to communicate read and write oscar lovelace shealys physician said that shealy was "having language difficulties and periods where he couldn’t remember what he needed to say he was mixing up numbers and letters" shealy died due to possible complications from the cancer on august  