Showing posts with label John Hopkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Hopkins. Show all posts

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Vietnam Veteran getting immunotherapy in melanoma cancer battle

Immunotherapy treatment helps Vietnam Veteran battle melanoma cancer


WINK
Reporter:Channing Frampton
Writer: Michael Mora
Published: March 6, 2019
A new option in melanoma treatment that excites doctors like Paul Rothman, who is the dean and CEO of John Hopkins Medicine. He recently visited Southwest Florida.


A Vietnam Veteran fights a different battle in Southwest Florida. He said he is currently beating stage four melanoma and no matter what, you have to watch for changes in your body.

Ray Hershey, a Fort Myers Shores resident, lives with his wife, Sharon. Ray survived the war in Vietnam decades ago. But now, he is battling skin cancer.

Ray said a relatively new kind of treatment called, immunotherapy, is working miracles.

“My tumor is only this big,” said Ray as he gestures the size, “and it’s still shrinking!”

That tumor was the size of a cantaloupe.

Ray said he feels great, which is a product of a cancer treatment initially meant to treat lung cancer. He had his treatment at Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Ray’s oncologist, Dr. Mahdi Taha, said he is fortunate to be doing so well.

“Immunotherapy, believe it or not, is used in multiple cancer types,” Dr. Taha said.

The procedure uses your body’s immune system to attack cancer cells. It took care of Ray’s melanoma and tumor under his arm.
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