ED CUSICK

Stage:Stage IV

First diagnosed March 2001. Rear upper left leg. Started treatment (surgery) at Mass General, followed by several other surgeries, lymph node involvement, etc. Went on High Dose Interferon for a month at Cape Cod Hospital, followed by 11 months of self injection low dose interferon. Recurrence in 2002, more surgeries, Isolated Limb perfusion at MGH. Two or three other surgeries due to spread to small bowel, forearm, etc., in 2003. Did a clinical trial through Dana Farber, had another recurrence in upper chest area. Finally elected to undergo IL-2 through Beth Israel in Boston 2005. After first round, my onc thought that it was getting a positive response, so I entered a second round, which seems to have been successful. So, since late 2005, I was scanned every 3 months, then 6 months, now once a year. I was one of the lucky ones where IL-2 seems to have been my magic bullet.