Focusing on You: Breakthrough Treatments for Melanoma Patients

This avid cyclist is back to biking thanks to life-saving care.

Meet Ignacio Escallon

Ignacio Escallon, an avid cyclist, knew something was wrong when he felt unusually tired. “The first day, I was super weak. Second day, extremely weak. And third day, I was sweating,” says Ignacio.

Ignacio had advanced-stage melanoma – the most serious type of skin cancer. He went to see Jose Lutzky, M.D., a medical oncologist specializing in advanced skin cancers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System.

“Anyone can get skin cancer. Most skin cancers are related to sun exposure. And so decreasing sun exposure will decrease the rate of skin cancers,” Dr. Lutzky says.

Why is Sylvester unique when it comes to treating skin cancer?

“We have dermatologists, we have surgical oncologists that do the operations. We have medical oncologists like myself that give treatment if there’s more advanced disease,” says Dr. Lutzky.

Sylvester, an NCI-designated cancer center, has access to the latest clinical trials, offering cutting-edge treatments to prevent melanoma recurrence.

“What we’re trying to do here is to prevent the melanoma from coming back, and over the last several years, there have been a number of treatments that have shown to be effective,” Dr. Lutzky says.

After a combination of immunotherapy drugs, Ignacio’s tumors started to disappear. Now cancer free and back to cycling, he says Sylvester and what he calls the “four pillars” saved his life:“Community, medicine, faith, and yourself,” Ignacio says.

Learn more about Sylvester’s life-saving treatments and services for skin cancers.

Tags: cancer, Dr. Jose Lutzky, melanoma, skin cancer treatment, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center