Maurice Wade, Mucosal Melanoma

 I just got my diagnosis of oral melanoma. The parts of the lesion that were deemed “superficial melanoma” were removed with clear margins but another portion, where 2 healthy teeth had to be removed to perform the excision, showed “invasive melanoma” and my dental surgeon feels that she got all the tissue that she could but that it wasn’t enough. I meet with specialists at the Smilow Cancer Center at Yale on Tuesday for a consult about next steps. I spoke with one of their oncologists yesterday, who had done a quick review of my pathology report, and she thinks that the cancer may have been caught fairly early, which gives a bit of hope. Happy to have any advice!

Maurice Wade, Mucosal Melanoma Survivor
Date of Diagnosis: 07/17/2025
West Hartford, Connecticut