Jennifer Frederick was in the perfect form of her life in 2023, so when she felt a small lump in her groin space after every week of exercises. She thought it was only a pulled muscle, however a month later, the lump was nonetheless there.
4 months later, the lump was rising. Frederick went to a dermatologist and testing discovered extra lumps in her leg. She scheduled a biopsy. On December 14, surgeons minimize into her leg and eliminated the biggest lumps. Every week later, she had a analysis: Metastatic malignant melanoma. The illness is normally heralded by a mole on the pores and skin, however Frederick by no means had one.
Extra assessments confirmed the most cancers wasn’t simply in her leg. One scan discovered 4 lesions on her lungs. One other discovered 5 lesions on her mind. The outcomes have been surprising, Frederick stated.
“I by no means had a migraine, headache, blurry imaginative and prescient, by no means had issues respiratory, by no means had a cough,” Frederick, 50, stated. “I by no means felt off in any respect.”
Jennifer Frederick
What’s metastatic malignant melanoma?
Melanoma is the deadliest type of pores and skin most cancers. Metastatic melanoma is any time of cancerous melanoma that has unfold from one location to a different, stated Dr. Michael Postow, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering, who was not concerned in Frederick’s remedy. Metastatic malignant melanoma refers to late-stage metastatic melanoma.
“Melanoma is a form of most cancers that may unfold fairly broadly all through the physique,” Postow stated. “It is one of many cancers that incessantly includes the mind, so unfold from melanoma to the mind … may be fairly a standard incidence. The lung can also be a standard website of metastatic melanoma.”
Usually, melanoma is acknowledged by a brown or black mole on the skin. Postow stated it is uncommon however not remarkable for a affected person to haven’t any mole or a “microscopic” one. He stated that along with preserving a watch out for a brand new mole or an present mole that adjustments colour, dimension or texture, individuals ought to look ahead to lumps underneath the pores and skin just like the one Frederick had. Any considerations must be brought to a dermatologist, Postow stated.
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The five-year survival fee for sufferers with superior metastatic melanoma is about 35%, in response to the American Cancer Society. Postow stated clinical trials show that for sufferers who obtain sure immunotherapy remedies, that quantity rises to 50%. Only a decade in the past, the five-year survival fee was nearer to 10%, he stated.
Immunotherapy was what Frederick’s physician, Cleveland Clinic medical oncologist Dr. Lucy Boyce Kennedy, beneficial. The 2 talked over the choices and determined to go along with an intensive remedy that will mix gamma knife radiation and two immunotherapy medication. Kennedy described the remedy protocol as “pretty excessive threat” and warned it might result in the immune system attacking different organs. Frederick was undeterred.
“She defined what this was going to appear to be. And I checked out her and I stated, ‘I do not care what it’s. If it is probably the most aggressive remedy, I am prepared to do no matter it’s,'” Frederick stated. “I simply needed to be my wholesome Jen Frederick once more so I can get again to a standard life.”
A tough remedy
Frederick underwent gamma knife radiotherapy on January 7. The remedy makes use of exact gamma rays to focus on most cancers tumors. Frederick stated that it went nicely, however when she began receiving the biweekly immunotherapy medicines on January 17, she started feeling “dangerous uncomfortable side effects,” together with “flu-like signs, rash, nausea,” and excessive fevers.
As she continued the remedy, the uncomfortable side effects expanded to incorporate vomiting, chills and issues along with her abdomen and eyes. She was utilizing the toilet “25 plus instances a day,” Frederick stated. She was hospitalized and spent a month out and in of the hospital. There was vital irritation in her colon. She weighed solely 95 kilos.
Jennifer Frederick 
“They might launch me. I’d go house. I would be house 24 hours, and have to return as a result of I’d simply begin vomiting once more. I could not maintain any meals down,” Frederick stated. She needed to take two months off from the immunotherapy to take steroids, antibiotics and different medicines to deal with the uncomfortable side effects. After recovering, she resumed remedy.
When Frederick underwent her first PET scan since beginning remedy, it confirmed “main, main enchancment,” she stated. That made the months of ache, discomfort and sickness price it. A second scan a number of weeks later confirmed issues have been persevering with to maneuver “in the fitting route,” Frederick stated. The immunotherapy was diminished to each three weeks, then each 4 weeks as she continued to enhance.
“My physician stated that I am a Stage IV miracle,” Frederick stated.
“Most cancers doesn’t have me”
After 18 months of remedy, Frederick has not seen any development of her most cancers and continues to enhance, her care staff stated. Kennedy believes that she has “a extremely wonderful probability of getting actually long-term survival.” Scientific trial sufferers who obtained the identical remedy Frederick did are nonetheless doing nicely 10 years after the examine, according to a recent update, Kennedy stated. She believes Frederick could have the same journey.
“I solely use the 10-year quantity as a result of that is simply as outdated because the medication are. I believe these sufferers could have responses that final past that, doubtlessly indefinitely,” Kennedy stated.
Jennifer Frederick 
Frederick will proceed her remedy till December 2025, Kennedy stated. Then, she is going to begin present process common screening scans to ensure her most cancers is just not returning. Frederick stated that after she is finished with energetic remedy, she needs to share her story and ensure individuals know the significance of early screening. She has begun mentoring different most cancers sufferers by the Cleveland Clinic’s 4th Angel program.
“I need individuals to comprehend it will get tougher earlier than it is simpler,” Frederick stated. “My saying has all the time been ‘I’ll have most cancers, however most cancers doesn’t have me.’ And I need individuals to really feel that approach, as a result of it is not a loss of life sentence.”
