We have come to the end of May which has been designated Skin Cancer Awareness Month. I can’t let this pass for several reasons. Not least that i am a skin cancer survivor. I was very fortunate to accomplish early detection and treatment. My brother was not so fortunate. He died, as a very young man, of a melanoma. I’ve never gotten over his death. It changed my life and was an important influence on my decision to enter politics. In the U.S. Senate, I made the fight against cancer my abiding cause and in 1999, I was given a lifetime achievement award by the National Coalition for Cancer Research. (Viewing the photograph is a shock. I can’t believe I ever looked that young.)
After my time in Washington, I returned to Florida where I served, first, as Chairman of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and, then, as Chairman Emeritus. I am now retired from both of those posts but remain keenly interested in the work of Moffitt which I like to think I helped make into what is, perhaps, the premier cancer center for treatment and research in the field of skin cancers. Florida is, understandably, a high risk state for skin cancers.
Here is a story from my book Citizen Mack about how with the incredibly generous help of a man named Don Adam, we were able to accomplish so much at Moffitt. The story picks up when I have finished making the pitch to Don and told him how much it would cost for us to realize our ambitions for Moffitt: The number was $20.4 million.
He listened, and … asked me, “Connie, who else is going to be contributing to this?”
“Well, Don,” I said, “we were hoping you would do the whole thing.”
Which he did.
It is difficult for me to convey, adequately, just what that contribution from Don Adam made possible … [it] moved Moffitt along toward that goal of becoming a leading—if not the leading—cancer facility in the world when it comes to dealing with melanoma, both in treatment and research. With that funding, we now were able to build the facilities that we needed to make the TILs that were the essential element in treating melanoma through immunotherapy. That, in turn, allowed for the development of new immunotherapy techniques.
And there has been more. So much more. For example:
* 2,100 individual new melanoma patients are seen yearly at Moffitt.
* Moffitt was involved in the development and pre-approval testing of
every single one of fourteen new drugs or drug combinations for
treatment of melanoma that have been given FDA approval since 2011.
• More than 1,500 of these patients have entered into clinical trials.
• Moffitt received a SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) grant from the NCI for melanoma research. This is the most prestigious award a cancer center can receive, so it is not just about the money. It is a validation.
• Moffitt is a leader in the development of CAR-T therapy, an immunological treatment that uses a person’s T cells, which are normally responsible for detecting noncancerous intruders, such as viruses and bacteria. However, by genetically modifying these cells to recognize the unique proteins that are present on the surface of cancer cells, it’s possible to program them to destroy cancerous cells while leaving healthy cells alone.
There is even more to it. We established our own destination center—The Donald A. Adam Melanoma Center of Excellence—where melanoma patients could come for everything they needed from exams to diagnosis to treatment—including surgery. It is the finest in the land. Maybe anywhere.
You can read a lot more about Moffitt and my other efforts in the war on cancer in my book. It will not be available in print for another three months. Another casualty of the Corona virus. But the book is available in digital format and you can order it on the home page.
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