Her medical file read 'death imminent.' His treatment plan changed cancer forever. | Opinion

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/11/29/immunotherapy-cancer-treatment-immune-system/ [login to see] 7/?tbref=hp
(Article 11/2024) Today, immunotherapy is the brightest new weapon in the fight against cancer. Miraculous cures, though not experienced by all patients, have become more common. In August 2015, former President Jimmy Carter thought he had only weeks to live. His skin cancer— metastatic melanoma —had spread to his liver and brain. Conventional radiation treatment might slow the growth, but Carter was certain to die. Then his doctors gave him pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a new immunotherapy medication that could spur a patient’s own immune system to attack cancer.
Within several months the tumors had melted away and Carter was cured. In fact, he turned 100 in October, the first time an American president has lived a full century.