Nanci is a melanoma survivor and a staunch advocate for expanding access to lifesaving treatment to end cancer as we know it for everyone.
Biomarker testing is essential to high-quality, personalized care for many conditions and can be a real game-changer for many patients. Breakthroughs in personalized treatments are only possible when we invest in cancer research.
In 2021, Nanci found a small mole under her arm while showering. It looked and felt a little strange, so she contacted her dermatologist. He took one look at it and said, ‘yes, that has to go.’ When she asked when, he quickly answered with ‘right now.’ Nanci wasn’t overly concerned with the mole. Her father had basal cell cancer, a type of skin cancer, a number of times, and she thought, if anything, her mole would be basal. One evening, two weeks later, she received a call from her dermatologist, who told Nanci that she, in fact, had melanoma.
The next step in Nanci’s treatment was a wide excision surgery. Thankfully, the surgeon found no additional cancer. The doctor explained that traditionally, the next step would be to do a sentinel lymph node biopsy, removing lymph nodes from under her arm. However, in this case, he wasn’t a strong proponent of that procedure because it can have lifelong effects. He strongly recommended a relatively new biomarker test before moving forward with any other surgery. The biomarker testing revealed that there was a 98% chance that Nanci would not have a recurrence of melanoma.
Biomarker testing allowed Nanci’s doctors to predict how likely her melanoma was to return and avoid additional surgeries. Even though this information allowed Nanci to avoid unnecessary treatment, her insurance company refused to pay for it, determining the services were not medically necessary. Nanci uses her story to advocate for increased access to cutting-edge lifesaving care, like biomarker testing, which are made possible thanks to research advancements.