CLEVELAND — Data from the American Cancer Society estimates more than 100,000 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed this year.
The cancer society also expects more than 8,000 people will die from the disease.
But health experts are now hopeful, this number will decrease thanks to new treatment.
“It’s incredible to me when I hear about advances in cancer research,” said Robert Nosanchuk, a Metastatic Melanoma survivor.
Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk tells News 5 his life forever changed in April of 2019 when he learned he had metastatic melanoma.
“If I hadn’t had abdominal pain entirely unrelated to the cancer, then I never would have wound up at the ER,” said Nosanchuk.
Five years later, Nosanchuk says he’s thankful to be alive thanks to his immunotherapy treatment.
Now, on this Melanoma Monday and the start of Skin Cancer Awareness Month, he and Dr. Thach-Giao Truong are hopeful more people will have the same chance.
That’s because the FDA recently approved the first cell-based treatment for solid tumor cancers, offering a new option for patients with advanced melanoma who have not responded to other drugs.
“We feel there is great hope for where Melanoma treatment is today,” said Cleveland Clinic Melanoma Program Medical Director, Dr. Thach-Giao Truong,
While melanoma only accounts for 1% of skin cancers, the American Cancer Society says it causes a large majority of skin cancer deaths; so, Truong says this new treatment will use the power of a patient’s own immune t-cells to attack their tumor.
“Because of these new treatments, Melanoma has led the way in improving survival for cancer at large by 20%,” said Truong.
The Cleveland Clinic has two patients who consented to treatment, which makes the hospital one of 23 early authorized treatment centers around the country.
“When I was diagnosed, there wasn’t more than two or three years ago worth of data to give me as to how people have done, so now I’m a part of the data five years later of people living longer,” said Nosanchuk.
Three weeks from now, Nosanchuk says he will have his five-year scan to see if his cancer is in remission.
