I feel blessed to have this giant dog in my life. A puppy who is about 170 pounds, and he curls up
with us every night. And one morning, I woke up, and he would not get his head out of my armpit.
And I thought, well come on, it's time to get up. We have places to go, and people to see.
And by the time I had literally pulled his head out of my arm, I discovered what felt like a rock.
And it wasn't superficial, it was really deep. So had his head not been in there, I don't think I
would have discovered it. And so, I had a biopsy. They called and said I had stage three melanoma
in my lymph nodes. I was very shocked. I was afraid. But I knew that if I could just do the due
diligence of who do I go to, where do I seek help, how do I find answers, how do I get the best care,
and I landed at Georgetown with Dr. Atkins. We offer multidisciplinary care that includes a group of
medical oncologists, dermatologists, cancer surgeons, radiation oncologists, pathologists,
radiologists. And we discuss what plan is the best plan for that patient. And as an NCI-designated cancer
center, we're doing the cutting edge research and are constantly in touch with people around
the world who are doing research that might apply to our patients. We had the ability to offer her a
state-of-the-art treatment approach, and we decided to start her with immunotherapy. He said we are
alive at a moment where medical advances are so great. We have immunotherapy, so we recommend the
protocol to let's start with immunotherapy. Then, we will definitely do surgery. It won't be partial.
It will be a complete dissection of your lymph nodes. I just felt at ease. And the most incredible
thing was to meet with Dr. Atkins and to be surrounded by the most incredible art. And, it
was just really comforting. Being an art lover, she felt like MedStar Georgetown was a healing place
because we paid attention to the spiritual and cultural aspects of caring for patients.
From the very beginning, I had such great trust in the doctors.
Just feeling really at ease and trusting and believing that this
team was the best team to help me through this process. Then after just weeks of immunotherapy,
after all the treatments that I had, the lump was reduced by 50 percent. So, I was filled with hope.
Then, I had the good fortune of working with Dr. Al-Refaie, a man of highest esteem and
credential and competence and professionalism. We're in a very exciting and interesting
time. We're becoming more advocates of giving immune therapy up front, followed by surgery.
And Mrs. Aronson's case was a complete removal of the lymph node from the armpit area
because it's a very effective treatment option in terms of controlling recurrence of the melanoma
in the future. After Dr. Al-Refaie removed Ami's lymph nodes, we looked at it under the microscope.
Even though the mass shrunk maybe only by 50 percent, there was actually no tumor left in the
specimen, that all of it had been destroyed by the immune therapy. Ami's cancer, it shrunk essentially
a hundred percent. So, we're very, very happy, and she's back now to her normal quality of life doing
her usual activities. So, we're very excited by this remarkable recovery. I just have such gratitude for
all the care that I received, and Georgetown is a great place. They're not just treating my arm
or my cancer, they're treating my whole being. And, I can absolutely, hands-down recommend that if you
want to receive the highest care with such dignity and genuine love, then MedStar is the place for you.