Interesting Immunotherapy

It's been almost a year since my diagnosis of metastatic melanoma. A tough year, for sure, but also a year of tremendous progress. My vital signs were good yesterday when I went in for my treatment, and Elvira drove me home afterward, full of Opdivo and positive thoughts.

I've been posting my immunotherapy story on national cancer sites, and representatives from three of them have contacted me. AIM at Melanoma has invited me to attend a conference, Cancer.Net has asked me to do a guest blog, and the American Cancer Society interviewed me for an article in its Stories of Hope series. This interest seems to stem from the newness of immunotherapy and the possibility that it will be a viable long-term treatment not only for melanoma, but for other cancers as well. Let's hope so.

I've also heard directly from a few people who are dealing with a diagnosis like mine and have read Melanoma without a Cause. One couple was just beginning their fight against the disease and wanted to know more about immunotherapy from a patient's perspective. Another couple was a lot like Elvira and me, close in age with an active life style that has come to a screeching halt. They seem like very nice people, but like us, have a long way to go in their journey.

Do I believe immunotherapy is truly a miracle drug? Do I believe I'll go into remission and have many more years here on earth with Elvira?

Absolutely!

As Hub (Robert Duvall) in the movie Secondhand Lions says to The Kid, "Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most."