Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an inherited brain disorder
that results in the progressive loss of both mental faculties and physical
control. Symptoms usually appear between
the ages of 30 to 50, and worsen over a 10 to 25-year period. Ultimately, the
weakened individual succumbs to pneumonia, heart failure or another
complication.
Sharon Belvin was only 22 years old when she learned she had late-stage metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Despite undergoing a series of treatments that left her body ravaged and her spirit exhausted, her cancer kept coming back, each time worse than before.
Sharon Belvin was only 22 years old when she learned she had late-stage metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Despite undergoing a series of treatments that left her body ravaged and her spirit exhausted, her cancer kept coming back, each time worse than before. Just when she began to lose all hope, she met Cancer Research Institute clinical investigator and Scientific Advisory Council member Dr. Jedd Wolchok at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He began treating her with an experimental immunotherapy called anti-CTLA-4, a monoclonal antibody created by CRI Scientific Advisory Council associate director James Allison. The therapy works by “taking the brakes off the immune system,” allowing the body’s natural defenses to target and destroy cancer without counterproductive restraint. The result: Sharon is cancer-free today, has since gone on to have a beautiful baby girl, Lillybeth, and—even more good news—is expecting her second child in early 2010.
The important research of Drs. Jedd Wolchok and James Allison is made possible in part through the generous support of donors who select the Cancer Research Institute (member #11999) through workplace giving programs like the Combined Federal Campaign and Community Health Charities. You can read more about Sharon’s victory over melanoma by visiting http://cancerresearch.org/RealStories/Patients/Sharon-Belvin.html
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Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an inherited brain disorder
that results in the progressive loss of both mental faculties and physical
control. Symptoms usually appear between
the ages of 30 to 50, and worsen over a 10 to 25-year period. Ultimately, the
weakened individual succumbs to pneumonia, heart failure or another
complication.
Sharon Belvin was only 22 years old when she learned she had late-stage metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Despite undergoing a series of treatments that left her body ravaged and her spirit exhausted, her cancer kept coming back, each time worse than before. 
