Shane’s Story
In 2001 at the age of 21, while a student and basketball player at Assumption College in Worcester, MA, Shane was diagnosed with Stage 1A melanoma cancer. Shortly after this diagnosis, a wider excision was done at the Univ. of Chicago followed by a sentinel node biopsy which was negative. Shane was checked annually and remained cancer free for about 8 years. Then the "beast" returned. Since Jan. 2009, Shane has undergone several surgeries, including a brain surgery at MDA in Houston TX. He made contact with doctors in many major cancer centers and hospital. He has been on countless therapies in his search for a cure. Many of these helped Shane over the years in his 14 1/2 year melanoma journey. Shane was a fighter, and continued his battle at the NIH by participating in a clinical trial in Bethesda MD starting May 4th, 2015. He was only the 7th person ever to receive this treatment. This was probably the most difficult treatment he ever had and unfortunately, he did not have the complete response to the treatment we had hoped for. Over the summer of 2015, he was admitted to the hospital at the University of Chicago and had spent 11 weeks there with various complications, including a gram negative and a gram positive infection. However, the main issue the entire time had been the growth of the tumor in his abdomen, which grew to the size of a small watermelon. This tumor was preventing Shane from improving his status and affected not only his appetite and bodily functions, but physically incapacitated him. Shane then restarted a previous treatment, a BRAF targeted therapy similar to the one he had a positive response in 2013. We were hoping that this treatment would give Shane the opportunity to recover somewhat from the last few months in the hospital and shrink the abdominal tumor. The goal was to get him to a place where he could continue his tenacious fight against melanoma. After spending over 180 days in various hospitals and rehab units in 2015, Shane came home one final time on Dec. 24th 2015 and as you know, passed away one day later, Christmas day at 5PM.
Shane’s story is a prime example of why funding for cancer research is crucial!
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