{"id":239300,"date":"2026-04-07T21:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/239300\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:10:16","slug":"metastatic-melanoma-survivor-trusts-ut-md-andersons-expertise-and-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/239300\/","title":{"rendered":"Metastatic melanoma survivor trusts UT MD Anderson\u2019s expertise and research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Eastin was first diagnosed with melanoma<\/a> on his left ear in 2012. The Dallas resident had surgery<\/a> at home to treat the cancer and two more surgeries to treat melanoma recurrences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2017, he came to UT MD Anderson for a second opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctors in Dallas were great,\u201d says Joe. \u201cI\u2019d had multiple surgeries, so I just wanted to see if UT MD Anderson recommended any further treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He showed no evidence of disease<\/a>, and after looking over Joe\u2019s scans, head and neck surgeon Neil Gross, M.D.<\/a>, recommended routine surveillance. The plan was for Joe to continue regular skin checks<\/a> with his local dermatologist, as well as six-month follow-ups at UT MD Anderson.<\/p>\n

Things went well for several years. Then, in January 2022, Joe\u2019s dermatologist biopsied<\/a> a mole<\/a> that had darkened over several months. It turned out to be a second melanoma diagnosis \u2013 this time in his right chest wall near his shoulder.<\/p>\n

He opted for surgery at UT MD Anderson, so surgical oncologist Jennifer Wargo, M.D.<\/a>, removed the lesion and two lymph nodes in his right armpit. A biopsy of the lymph nodes<\/a> showed that the cancer had not spread beyond his chest wall.<\/p>\n

For the next two years, Joe kept up with his follow-up visits and practiced sun safety<\/a>. As a business owner and married father of four, his work and family kept him busy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Immunotherapy helps treat metastatic melanoma<\/p>\n

In late 2024, after a PET-CT scan<\/a> and biopsy, Joe learned that the melanoma had spread<\/a> to his left ribcage. Because of the tumor\u2019s location, it involved bone and soft tissue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had heard that 12 years earlier, I might have reacted differently,\u201d recalls Joe, who was 54 at the time. \u201cBut by then, I\u2019d had a history with melanoma. So, I approached it like, \u2018OK, what do we have to do? What are the mechanics that we need to take care of this and make it go away?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After speaking to his care team, Joe chose to pursue treatment<\/a> at UT MD Anderson.<\/p>\n

His treatment plan included neoadjuvant immunotherapy<\/a> to help shrink the tumor, then surgery to remove the tumor.<\/p>\n

Joe completed three doses of the immunotherapy drugs ipilimumab and nivolumab under the care of melanoma medical oncologist Hussein Tawbi, M.D., Ph.D.<\/a> These immune checkpoint inhibitors<\/a> work by removing the \u201cbrakes\u201d cancer cells use to keep the immune system from attacking them. This allows the immune system to fight off cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn less than three months, the immunotherapy pretty much got rid of all the cancer cells in the soft tissue and shrunk the cancer in the bone by about 50%,\u201d says Joe. \u201cIt was pretty amazing that immunotherapy alone did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 27, 2025, thoracic surgeon Stephen Swisher, M.D.<\/a>, performed surgery to remove the tumor from Joe\u2019s chest wall, including his left fourth rib.<\/p>\n

His first scans after surgery showed that the treatment worked well. He continues to take nivolumab as an adjuvant therapy to kill off any remaining cancer cells and lower the risk of recurrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Tawbi did a great job of explaining how immunotherapy works,\u201d Joe notes. \u201cHe said it’s going to look at all the cells and say, \u2018That’s a good cell; it\u2019s fine. That’s a bad cell; we’re going to get rid of it. That’s another cell, and we\u2019re not really sure if it\u2019s bad, so we’re going to get rid of it, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe has had some fatigue<\/a>, minor digestive issues and some skin discoloration<\/a> from the immunotherapy. But his side effects<\/a> have gotten a little better since he now just takes nivolumab.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the treatment is working, so to me, it\u2019s well worth it,\u201d he says. \u201cSo far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues to show no evidence of disease progression or recurrence.<\/p>\n

Excited about the future of immunotherapy research<\/p>\n

Joe has now navigated melanoma, recurrences and a metastatic melanoma diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s made me look at my life and schedule and ask myself, \u2018What\u2019s essential?\u2019 I\u2019ve tried to do things that I feel are more essential and more of what I want to do,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to make sure I\u2019m making time for myself, my family and good friends. So, it\u2019s been about reducing noise to create space so that when those essential things come up, I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s thankful for the support of his family, friends and care team.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctors know what they\u2019re doing, and I trust them,\u201d he says. \u201cI think the science around advanced melanoma treatment is pretty amazing.\u00a0 I appreciate the thoughtful research<\/a> UT MD Anderson has done and continues to do around immunotherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe learned even more about that research when he attended the James P. Allison Institute\u2122 3rd Annual Scientific Symposium<\/a>, which UT MD Anderson held on Oct. 24, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing and humbling experience having five Nobel Prize recipients in one room, on one stage, led by Dr. James Allison<\/a> \u2013 who actually developed ipilimumab, one of the immunotherapy drugs I took,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Joe is also grateful for the immunotherapy research Tawbi and Wargo have done for melanoma and is excited to see how it can be used to treat more types of cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could potentially change the world,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is never a good time to get cancer. But the people and the science that exist today are helping find solutions and cures for more cancers. So, that\u2019s enough reason to stay positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Request an appointment at UT MD Anderson online<\/a> or call 1-877-632-6789.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Eastin was first diagnosed with melanoma on his left ear in 2012. The Dallas resident had surgery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[91926,1145,39401,1146,56,58,57,26375,91924,91925,75671,1148,91923,91922,2822],"class_list":{"0":"post-239300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-cancer-recurrence","9":"tag-caregivers","10":"tag-donors","11":"tag-health-vigilant","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-headlines","14":"tag-houston-news","15":"tag-immunotherapy","16":"tag-james-p-allison-institute","17":"tag-melanoma","18":"tag-patient-caregiver-stories","19":"tag-patients","20":"tag-second-opinion","21":"tag-skin-cancer","22":"tag-survivors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}