John McCain’s melanoma
Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog
When I was in medical school, one of my finer teachers on the hospital wards was a young resident named Bob. He was bright and filled with information, eager to teach and kind. During that time, he had some minor surgery for a melanoma. Fifteen years later, while starring at another academic institution, the melanoma came back and spread quickly through his body. From what I learned, he only lasted a few months.
I tell this story to point out that melanoma is a capricious cancer that can be out of sight for years and then reappear with deadly outcome. Melanoma is different from most skin cancers. It is a special kind of skin cancer, because it will kill about 10-15% of the people who get it. The other kinds are much more benign. This year, about 62,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma. About 8200 people will die. Most of them were diagnosed some years ago. The reason that most people survive is that their melanomas are caught early.
According to my best information, the melanoma removed from Senator John McCain’s face in 2000 was not caught early. It was classified as stage IIa. That means it had penetrated fairly deeply into the skin (not a good sign) but at least had not spread to nearby lymph nodes (a better sign). So the reading on his cancer is mixed. It isn’t necessarily fatal, but there is about a one in three chance it will come back and kill him.
I wasn’t too worried about the Senator (Senators and even Presidents are highly replaceable) until now when he chose as his running mate, a totally inexperienced, unworldly Governor from Alaska. Although we have come a long way in treating many cancers, melanoma renders most of us oncologists helpless. Surgery is really the only treatment that works and if it becomes widespread, we are limited to giving some fairly ineffectual drugs. If Senator McCain’s melanoma were to recur, he would be out of action. And we would be left with someone who has traveled abroad only once and then only to visit her National Guard troops.
My only question is whether McCain has made a pact with his Maker guaranteeing his survival or he has acted foolishly and impulsively. I will be worried if he wins the November election, for even the most rigorous cancer checkups would do nothing to guarantee his survival.
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