Stage III

Mitch Brogdon

In July 2007, I was diagnosed with stage III melanoma. I never thought this would ever happen to a young adult, especially me! I turned 16 on August 1st, the same day I had my first surgery. Since 1 lymph node was found positive for cancer, I underwent a second surgery to remove 12 more lymph nodes. Fortunately, the next 12 lymph nodes were cancer free.

I underwent interferon therapy 5 days per week for 4 weeks and landed in the hospital for a week due to the toxin buildup in my body. I am now taking a smaller dose of interferon that is self-injected 3 times per week for 11 months.

I haven't been able to attend school first semester (I’m a junior in high school), but I plan to try to attend second semester.

Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, I realize that I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful that I am still alive and look forward to the end of my treatment and being told that I am "cancer free!"

I am also thankful for people like Jean Schlipmann and Aim at Melanoma, who provide a lot of support and fund research in hopes of finding a cure.

Misty Melendez Peebles

Sun and UV rays haven't always been my friend. However, like any other teen, I had my fair share of tanning salon visits. Trying to obtain a tan, whether it be for Prom or getting ready for my summer job as a lifeguard. I would get some color, but mainly I would burn. In April of 2005, I decided to visit a new dermatologist. I thought maybe I would improve my skin, but there was a mole on my back that I didn't quite like and I wanted to ask her about. My dermatologist looked at the mole and immediately told me she thought I had melanoma. A shave biopsy was performed. I was shocked. I was only 30 years old and now I possibly have cancer!? The results came back Melanoma Stage 1A. My dermatologist told me that if you were to be diagnosed with Melanoma, this was the best possible diagnosis. The treatment plan was to perform a wide excision around where the mole was located. The margins were clear and I was told I would be closely monitored for recurrence, as it typically happens within the first 2 years. My mother however wanted to be more aggressive, leaving nothing to chance. I had a nuclear bone scan, MRI, and CT scan. All of which came back clear. Shortly after, I had noticed a swollen lymph node on my neck. The node was removed and they performed a sentinel node biopsy, which identifies the primary lymph nodes involved and then they remove them. All my nodes came back negative. Whew!!!

Every 3 months I would visit my dermatologist and my oncologist. I was approaching my 2 year period of reocurrence, when I found out I was pregnant. My son Beckett was born June 5, 2007. He was born premature due to Preeclampsia that I had developed. His lungs weren't quite developed and he developed a hole in his lung, a condition called pneumothorax. He was airlifted to St. Louis' Children's Hospital. After 14 days in the NICU, we were healthy and ready to head home. Needless to say the time spent caring for Beckett in the NICU was the scariest and most emotional time of my life. While waiting for Beckett to be brought to me, I discovered a swollen lymph node in the same location where they took my sentinel node. I couldn't believe it. Five days later I had surgery to remove it. The results came back Melanoma Stage III. Here I was a new mother to a premature infant and now I have Stage 3 cancer. They say God only gives you what you can handle, but come on. This was not what I thought would happen to me. But guess what, it did and it is happening to more and more, younger women and men every day.

Melanoma is the most commonly fatal form of skin cancer in our country. In fact, one person dies every hour from this preventable cancer. While the death rates for other common cancers such as breast, colon, and prostate cancer are declining, death rates for melanoma have increased nearly 30% over the past 25 years. There are over one million new cases of skin cancer diagnosed in the United States each year, outnumbering the total number of other cancers combined. Skin cancer includes the most serious skin cancer - melanoma, and the most common ones - basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

My oncologist recommended two options. Option 1, wait and see if it comes back or Option 2, 1 year of Interferon treatment to decrease the odds of reoccurrence. That is all they had to offer, this disease is incurable. After getting a second opinion (a must as far as I'm concerned), I decided that I would begin Interferon treatments, to increase my odds of not having a reoccurrence, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Waiting and seeing was not an option for me, not with a new baby. It was explained to me that the road ahead of me would be tough and not very pleasant. Some say the side effects of Interferon are worse than chemo, and many can't complete it, because it is so toxic. My treatment consisted of one month of high dose Interferon administered through a port 5 days a week, followed by 11 months of low dose administered 3 times a week. In order to be able to start treatment, my husband, my son, my mother and my husband's parents moved into a house near the hospital. There was no way I could have made it through that month of high dose without all of them. I couldn't take care of my infant, let alone myself. The medicine made me very sick. After completing the month long high dose, they sent me home with the skill to self administer my medicine that would be delivered to me at home. For the past 11 months, my husband or I have been injecting myself three times a week. In a couple of weeks I will be done with my treatment.

The past year has been hard, but it is coming to a close. I will have a PET scan soon to look for cancer, before they will give me the all clear. I have a 50 % chance of it coming back, but to me, that just means either it will or it won't. I don't like to think about the odds.

Update Feb. 6, 2009: I was unable to get a PET scan due to insurance, but I had a CT with contrast and a chest X-ray. All the tests came back clear. I am still going to my dermatologist and oncologist every three months, and things look good. I am approaching 1 year since reoccurrence. My oncologist thinks this is very positive sign. Most of my thoughts have turned from the dark thoughts that at one time consumed me with fear, to thoughts of the future and possibly having more children. Things are looking bright.

Danielle Dahm

In March of 2000, I was diagnosed with Stage III Malignant Melnoma - this is my story...

While pregnant with my 3rd child in 1998, I noticed a raised lesion on the back of my right thigh. I mentioned it to my family practice doctor. He felt it was possibly a growth due to preganancy. Six weeks after I had my child, I went in for a biopsy around January of 1999. My family practice doctor looked at it and got on the phone with a dermatologist and described what he saw. He then told me he wasn't going to biopsy it and too just keep an eye on it. This spot was about the size of a nickel and was redish purple.

Around January of 2000, I noticed the lesion was bleeding. I assumed I just nicked it shaving. But after a few weeks, it had not healed and was still bleeding. I went in a clinic in Germany and had a biopsy. Within a few weeks, I was called back into the clinic and told I had Melanoma. Within days, I was put on a plane to Walter Reed hospital in Washington D.C. I underwent surgery to remove the tumor and wide area from my thigh, as well as 3 lymph nodes in my right groin. 1 of the 3 was positive and I went in for a 2nd surgery to remove additional nodes. The rest of the nodes were negative. I also endured a muscle transfer and had to learn to use my right leg again. I was on crutches for a month or so and then a cane for another 6-8 months. I was at Walter Reed for 30 long days, away from my husband and 3 children ages 6,5 and 1. I returned to Germany to recover. A month later we moved to Washington state so I could get treatment at Madigan.

In June of 2000 I began a clinical trial of High-dose Interferon. The treatment plan was for 12 months of which I lasted about 9 months. I went in daily the first month for IV therapy. Then began self-injection shots 3 times a week. After about 8 months, I was down to 86 lbs and my treatment was stopped 3 months early. I had numerous side effects to include short-term memory loss. I still suffer with that today.

I was ready to annouce to the world that this month I was 4 years in remission. However, a recent PET scan reveals that melanoma has most likely returned. There are several lymph nodes in both sides of my groin, near my stomach, liver and heart ranging in size up to 9mm. There are also 2 nodes in my neck which I'm having surgery to remove them today. Major surgery is likely for the nodes in my right groin since they did find cancer there 9 years ago.

We can never feel we are in the clear with this beast. We must be diligent with our check-ups! Cancer will not take away my spirit for Life!

Holly

Hi! My name is Holly. I'm a 32 year old Stage III Melanoma Survivor. I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma in August 2009 by my dermatologist.

He did a punch biopsy when I showed him a reddish and irritated mole I had on my hip. Not only am I fair skinned and red headed... but I have always had quite a few moles.

Initially, I just thought this mole was getting irritated because it was located right where my jeans came up to, so I just thought that was that. I had actually had the same mole checked out by another dermatologist a few years earlier, and she said I could have it removed if I wanted but that it wasn't malignant.

I decided to live with that ugly little thing... hmmm, so I guess it's composition changed or whatever. Coulda, shoulda, woulda... but hey, here I am, with some super cool battle scars!

I had my left love handle removed which was the area surrounding the tumor. In that same surgery, my doctor biopsied my sentinal node, and yes - although they said 90% chance that would be IT - the little 10% won... cancer was found in my sentinal node. I had the second surgery in my groin where 10 lymph nodes were removed. Luckily, no more cancer was found!

Next, they told me my only treatment option would be interferon. Without the interferon treatment, I would have a 60% chance of it coming back or with the Interferon its only 40%... hmmm.

So, I started my interferon nightmare. It's hard to speak of something that I think is supposed to help me, but that I feel is an evil poison, and I fear injecting it ever again. I did the one-month high-dose. That wasn't so bad, but I would definitely do that still, if I had to relive this all over again. It made me so tired and weak but thanks to my parents and family friends, all I remember is riding to and from the hospital to get my treatment, sleeping, trying my best to eat something...anything... and then sleeping, and oh yeah- writhing in pain from headaches and muscle aches. But really I was so tired, I slept off most of the worst side affects. ALSO, I was not working at that time.

I took a leave of absence from my beautiful bilingual 1st grade geniuses at PS 333. It was hard to leave work, so after the high dose, I tried to go back...ha ha!! That didn't work out. I started an even lower self-injected dose in Jan 2010 but I still felt like I was losing all control of myself and everything around me. I really couldn't handle it, mentally or physically. I couldn't work, I was sooo tired, but I just couldn't sleep. I couldn't just go out and have fun with my friends except maybe every 10 days or so, and sometimes that stuff had me so anxious I was afraid to leave my house. (TOTALLY NOT ME!)

Every person is different. I've heard of some people making it through the whole year. However, its mental affects are just too much for me. Especially considering that I was trying to do it all alone. I had family help me through the rough parts, but they were traveling from out-of-town to do so. I have amazing friends, but cancer and its treatment are a whole other world. You can't expect friends to be able to literally TAKE CARE OF YOU, because they have their own lives.

I really think the interferon thing needs to be REALLY CLOSELY monitored and is not something to be considered lightly. I think each person needs to consult several doctors before starting this treatment. Although I had a great oncologist and surgical team, it's this Interferon that I hate!

Now, I don't recommend this, but I just quit taking it... I'm meeting with another doctor, and will see if he recommends that I go back on it, or if I can stay off. But, although I definitely fear that it will recur (at around a 50% chance) I would rather be ME than lose my mind, memory, or suffer from constant fatigue.

We shall see... my story is not over yet. I hope to report back with good news soon! I am sure missing out on this snowboarding season, but I had a clear scan in February 2010... so, hopefully next year I'll be back on the slopes.

Holly