About

The story so far

On August 10, my Facebook status had been "Best summer ever." On August 11, I learned I had malignant melanoma.

A few days later, I underwent surgery that removed a 5 cm circle from the top of my head. I now rock a great combover, but my tonsure is even fiercer.

A year after my surgery, I was diagnosed with melanoma again. The cancer had broken off and spread to my lung, and I had a subcutaneous tumor on my back, which meant that it was getting very bad quickly. My oncologist helpfully informed that "Stage 4 isn't what it used to be," which is good, because metastatic melanoma traditionally means you're going to be dead pretty soon.

I was lucky enough to enter a Phase 1 immunotherapy trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering, becoming one of the first human subjects in the world to try out the treatment now known as Opdivo. Three months later, I had no evidence of disease. It helps when your doctors are a bunch of geniuses.

I've written about cancer and everything that goes with it for multiple publications. For my coverage of my experience in my clinical trial, I was nominated for an Online Journalism Award and a Skin Cancer Foundation Media Award. I have also written a book that you can read with your eyes or listen to with your ears.

Great big fan of science, research, and support communities. Thankful as all get out. Here are a few pieces from along the way.