in the past 2 weeks my husband and I have been able to attend two different national melanoma patient advocacy events in the DC area. The first was with the Melanoma Research Alliance (curemelanoma.org/) at their patient symposium that aligned with the research forum and distribution for grant dollars that physicians were attending next door. We were fortunate to get to hear from several fascinating researchers.
Brent A. Hanks, MD, PhD from Duke Cancer Institute presented an overview of of melanoma research and comparisons with current approaches as well as the challenges research is trying to tackle for treatment resistant melanoms like my husband Wayne apparently has.
A. Hunter Shain, PhD from University of California San Francisco Department of Dermatology discussed the genetic progression of melanoma. One fascinating tidbit from his research was his statement that Melanomas can evolve from precursors such as common moles) or they can appear suddenly. He noted that "30% of melanomas evolve from benign precursors while 70% of melanoma appear suddenly". I would have thought those statistics would have been reversed!
If you would like to have a copy of their presentation slides sent to you, they are in a PDF format for powerpoint, so anyone should be able to open them if you download a free Adobe app online. If you would like these slides, please use the CHAT function within HealthUnlocked to send me your email address and I'll ship them to you.
Yesterday we attended the Melanoma Research Foundation (melanoma.org/ ) 2019 Advocacy& Hill Day conference. The focus of this weekend was to prepare volunteers to speak in a targeted way with our legislators in Congress primarily around funding requests for research in melanoma. There were about 100 attendees from across the US who are affected by cutaneous, ocular, mucosal or uveal melanoma. There were 6 of us from Virginia who went to the offices of our Representatives and Senators to talk about this bi-partisan health condition that continues to increase in diagnostic presence to encourage buidling on the scientific funding to find effective treatments and a cure. If you would like to see the "asks" for Congress, use the CHAT function within HealthUnlocked to send me your email address and I'll share the content bullets we discussed with our legislators. You can do the same with an email to your state Representative and Senator if you so choose MRF online course and support materials to coach you if you have never contacted your congressional members before from their website.
Peace and energy for your needs today,
Missy
