Katie's Story - Research Grant Fundraising

Our efforts to honor the brave and bitter battle Katie gamely fought, memorialize her remarkable life, and save others from preventable death have refined and intensified. The timeline that informs this effort and our path forward, follows:

• In 2016 during a routine examination by Katie’s dermatologist, a small lesion was identified, biopsied, and tested. It was positive for melanoma and following standard protocol was surgically excised, tissue margins biopsied, and lymph nodes tested. With negative results she was deemed clear of melanoma.

• In the spring of 2021, Katie was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma. For 15 months Katie endured a desperate regimen of experimental and clinically innovative interventions. Among this barrage of painful and debilitating treatments, she was drained of her immune “T” cells, which were subsequently retrained and mobilized against her disease.

• Melanoma is a serious and deadly disease but is entirely treatable if caught early. According to initial standard protocols in Katie’s case, only annual dermatological exams were prescribed.

So, what happened?

Of the 100,000 melanoma cases the American Cancer Society estimates will be diagnosed in 2024, 8% will be lethal. Oncologists must be able to distinguish patients with treatable melanoma vs. those whose melanoma may be of the lethal variety where standard protocols are insufficient. Research is essential to characterize these lethal melanomas at the molecular level and identify prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Recognizing these unique patients early will enable physicians to administer more aggressive therapies and monitor them more vigorously.

The MRF has selected the researcher to receive our grant – her name is Dr. Lisa Cannon-Albright at the University of Utah. Her career has focused on identifying genetic markers for various types of cancer. To say her work is impressive is an understatement. As just one example, Lisa and her team helped identify genes that are associated with increased breast cancer risk (BRCA1 and BRCA2), which are now used to screen patients and help address breast cancer earlier and more effectively. Our grant will support a new research project titled “Pedigree Approach to Identify Predisposition Variants for Lethal Melanoma.” Katie had lethal melanoma, so-called because even if you excise the skin melanoma, obtain clean margins and a clear biopsy (both showing no further sign of melanoma, which is what happened with Katie), this type of melanoma can still evade detection, “sneak” into the body, and spread without warning. As Lisa did for breast cancer, the hope is that she can identify genetic markers indicating that a patient is predisposed to lethal melanoma, which would lead to increased diagnostic monitoring and ultimately advance treatment options. We had a chance to meet with Lisa and not only is she an impressive scientist but obviously a warm and caring person. Lisa’s study is now posted on the MRF website in honor of Katie.

https://melanoma.org/news-press/research-grant/pedigree-approach-to-identify-predisposition-variants-for-lethal-melanoma/

We hope and believe that Lisa’s research may be the first step in preventing another family from losing a loved one.

We invite you to be an active part of this effort, and to extend this opportunity to others in your networks for whom this investment may be meaningful.

Read More about Katie's Story HERE!