Sally Swope, Stage IV

Am I really Cancer Free?

I’ve had have Parkinson’s disease for 14 years. Parkinson’s disease, as many of you likely know, is a progressive neurological disease that gets worse over time. My symptoms have gotten worse over time: I have difficulty walking and many people notice my unusual gait. My coordination and balance problems have led to many falls in the last year. I’ve been lucky that I haven’t broken any bones.

I’ve had a lot of difficulty dealing with my Parkinson’s and I didn’t need any other major health problem. And along came melanoma. Nine years ago, my dermatologist discovered a lump on my back that was my first melanoma. I say my first, because it recurred twice in the next nine years. At first, I didn’t feel anything except some passing pain from the surgery to take it off my body. In fact, each time I had it, I was sure I was cancer free. I was glad I only had the Parkinson’s to deal with.

I was shocked when I was told that a lump on the original site was a recurrence. But after talking to my oncologist, I realized getting rid of it involved more than just surgery.
After the surgery, I had what he called targeted therapy. Targeted therapy involves taking meds that target BRAF genes that control melanoma growth. I could have been given immunotherapy at that time but wasn’t because I was in Stage 2. The targeted therapy lasted a year and after it was completed I was reassured I was melanoma free, again. I celebrated being melanoma free a second time.

Four years later, I found out that a lump in my breast was melanoma and that I was in metastatic melanoma stage IV. I was speechless. I cried and it was the first time I realized that melanoma was aggressive and could be a killer. Finally, after much consoling with long-term romantic partner and caregiver, Rick, I took a deep breath and went in and talked to my oncologist. What was next was immunotherapy. He assured me that there had been many breakthroughs in this field of medicine. Immunotherapy activates the body’s T-cells to combat cancer, in my case melanoma.

One of the problems with immunotherapy is that the T-cells can attack healthy organs. One of the developments in immunotherapy that made it more practical was discovering how to shut down an overactive immune response. I was happy that this medical advance came at a time that I needed it.

I’ve been on immunotherapy for five months now. I give blood at the lab two days before each infusion so my oncologist can insure the T-cells are behaving. So far, I haven’t had any of the 15 possible side effects. After two months of immunotherapy, the lump in my breast shrank from the size of a walnut to that of an M&M and it was surgically removed. I will stay on the immunotherapy regimen for another year to insure the melanoma is gone. And, despite my experience with melanoma, I hope it stays gone.

Sally Swope
Stage IV Melanoma Survivor
Date of Diagnosis: 03/15/2014
San Francisco, California