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Comment by hummuscience | Hacker News Reader

My father is currently dying of malignant melanoma with brain metastasis...

I wish this treatment was available a few years ago.

My dad died 30 years ago after it spread to his liver. He was in the study at duke for what is today the standard treatment line for immunotherapy. I hope he was able to help. He died 9 months after his diagnosis.

Enjoy the time you have with him now and be grateful for all the years you've had. Nothing is going to make the loss of a parent "OK" and it will hurt no matter if you see it coming like you are or it's a surprise.

Remember to breathe.

Immune therapy didn't help? Darn.

Immune therapy is hit or miss. Friends lung cancer was exquisitely sensitive to it. Stage 4 to no sign of disease. Another friend with melanoma immune therapy didn't seem to help at all.

Melanoma is usually completely resistant to traditional cancer drugs. So that sometimes immune therapy works is very welcome.

Sadly it didn't. And it also lead to extreme bleeding in the brain metastasis that we had to stop it. Switched to BRAF/MEK inhibitors and that looked good for a few months until it didn't anymore.

That is devastating. How are you doing?

Coping. It's been a long process. When I saw his first diagnosis (he was diagnosed very late) I read the papers and knew that his chances are slim.

It's hard seeing him like this. 63 years old. Going from completely functioning to non-verbal in 3 months fucks you up

I'm so sorry to hear that, but thank you for sharing your story to highlight the importance of this!

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