Hello, my name is Amy Glowacki. I’ve been battling multiple cancers for nearly a decade. Skin cancer diagnosis in 2018 has so far been my easiest fight with just a few stitches. Breast cancer in 2019 was a bigger fight with a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation. 2020 brought the doozy with an ocular melanoma diagnosis. I underwent brachytherapy radiation that successfully killed the tumor in my eye over time. Unfortunately, my vision wasn’t salvageable, but I’ll chalk that up to a small price to be living! This rare cancer has about a 50% chance of metastasizing to the liver and darn it if 2023 didn’t bring that statistic too. Boo! The stats for OM are heavy to hold in my thoughts with those who develop liver mets average lifespan being 2 years. 2023-2024 I was able to slow the disease with liver ablations. Early in 2025, my scan showed between 5-10 lesions and ablation was no longer an option. There is one FDA immunotherapy drug called Kimmtrak I feel so fortunate was approved in 2022. At that time, it was gently referred to as the last hope. There is a blood test to determine efficacy and darn it if I didn’t get that statistic! Yay! See what I did there? Cancer is complex and has both positive and challenging stats. Ok, corny I know. Thankfully, I’m still in this fight to make jokes and look to the future. The last 6 months have been a journey of many new acceptances. The first 4 weeks I was admitted to Stanford. The side effects were so gnarly, and it took time to find the right mix of medication to ensure successful outpatient therapy. Honestly, I was unsure my body would get accustomed to the drug to not require multiple nights in the hospital. I should’ve known better! Human bodies are amazing resilient things! For 6 months I have gone weekly to the infusion center and my last two scans have shown no new lesions and the existing ones are stable. This is the absolute BEST news for someone in my situation, stage 4 melanoma. Kimmtrak only slows the growth, but if I can stay in the game, I’ll be around for the clinical trials that are showing incredible promise.