It began as a lump in her groin. They thought it was a hernia, but when they did the operationthey found the melanoma. A very large one that required surgery to remove.
Dr. Anna Pavlick, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, tells the story of this patienther best friend.
Read More After the first surgery, the patient had a recurrence and had yet another surgery. Sometime after that surgery, her friend called and said, "I got this little thing. Can you just check it out?" Her friend had been told it was some bruising from a support stocking. When Dr. Pavlik looked at it, she knew immediately that the melanoma was back. In addition to being a story of a relentless melanoma, this also shows the true impact of
clinical trials. Several trials were explored, to which her friend ended up in an immunotherapy study.
And 14 years later, Dr. Pavlick says, "She's here today and she's cured. She's my best friend."
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