Your Wildest Dreams

2011 was a banner year for treatment advances for Stage IV melanoma. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Stage III fighters are stuck in 1996, the year the FDA approved interferon as an adjuvant treatment for Stage III melanoma. Given this dearth of treatment options, and the toxicity and limited effectiveness of interferon, many opt for the emotionally excruciating “wait and see” approach. A lucky few of us win the melanoma lottery and get a shot at a clinical trial treatment. And all too many Stage III patients eventually progress to Stage IV, which my own doc just a few years ago bluntly described as “uniformly fatal”.

Can you imagine the public uproar we’d be witnessing if Stage III breast cancer patients stood in these same shoes today?

My wildest dreams are that 2012 is a year of breakthrough treatment advances for Stage III warriors. (A six-week presidential election campaign with no TV ads came in as a close second.) And that some respected celebrity, and I’m not thinking Kardashian ilk here, uses the bully pulpit of fame to vocally and visibly champion the melanoma cause.

What’s your wildest dream?

Thanks to The Moody Blues, there’s a great old song to accompany your musings…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmmPFrkuPq0


Once upon a time
Once when tans were mine
I remember fries
Convecting was my prize
I wonder where cures are
I wonder if they
Lurk about me
Once upon a time
In my wildest dreams

Once my skin was new
My body wore no sunscreen hue
That greets high UV day
I wouldn't tear myself away
I wonder if cure’s there
I wonder if I’ll see December
Once upon a time
In my wildest dreams

And when insurance pays
And when my claims are
Left in fallow
When the music plays
I hear the sound
That I’m on hold now
Once upon a time
Once beneath the stars
The universe was ours
Cures for all were new
And all we knew was through
I wonder if cells grow
I wonder if docs know about it
Once upon a time
In my wildest dreams

And when the music plays
And when my words are
Touched with sorrow
When the music plays
And when the music plays
I hear some sounds
I have to borrow
Once upon a time

Once upon a time
Once when tans were fine
I remember skies
Mirrored in the tides
I wonder where cures are
I wonder if they
Lurk about me
Once upon a time
In my wildest dreams
In my wildest dreams
In my wildest dreams
In my wildest dreams