ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A cancer treatment recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration is changing the landscape of care for pediatric patients.

This is the case for 17-year-old Leah Pshedesky, who suffered a health scare the summer before her junior year of high school when she was shocked by a diagnosis of Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.

“They found a tumor pressing against my windpipe and I think a part of my heart,” she said.

The teen’s specialized treatment plan was shaped by clinical trials that showed the benefits of an immunotherapy medication already being used in adults. The FDA recently approved Nivolumab with chemotherapy for pediatric patients 12 years and older.

“It’s not chemotherapy sort of in the traditional sense,” said Pshedesky’s oncologist at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Dr. Brian D. Guedes. “It’s an antibody agent that harnesses a patient’s own immune system.”

“In addition to the high rates of cure is that we are sparing patients from more exposure to more traditional chemotherapy medications, which carry lots and lots of side effects and lots of long-term effects that some folks don’t even realize initially in terms of potential kidney or liver damage or infertility,” he added.

Guedes said Pshedesky’s cancer is now completely gone and that her response to the chemotherapy treatment meant she didn’t need radiation.

“I’m so happy that this is a treatable form of cancer, and the treatments keep getting better,” Pshedesky said.

Cancer-free and college-bound, the now high school senior said she has a newfound appreciation for music, which is something she has loved since she was a little girl.

“You can really just express yourself,” said Pshedesky, who plays the piano and bassoon.

“Being able to channel those feelings into my music, being able to use the emotions from, I think, the diagnosis and the shock and just the whole, it was insanity being able to put that out,” she said.

Pshedesky’s parents say they are proud of, and inspired by their daughter.

“Nothing but impressed by my daughter,” said her father, Jared Pshedesky.

“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her,” her mother, Saralynne Pshedesky, said.

“I’m just so grateful that I can sort of go on normally with my life now,” Leah Pshedesky said. “Without having to worry about cancer anymore.”