Isolde's Story
Isolde’s father passed away from melanoma when he was only 39 years old and Isolde was 7. As a result, Isolde was very careful, always wearing sunscreen and having regular skin exams. When she was diagnosed for the first time with melanoma in 1999, she was shocked. At that time, a surgery removed the melanoma and soon she was cancer-free.
Almost two decades later in 2017, after running from a fire in her office building, Isolde discovered a large bruise on her stomach and immediately went to see a radiologist. The ultrasound revealed that, as she was running to safety from the fire, a six-inch tumor had moved closer to the surface resulting in the bruised skin. A scan revealed that, this time, the cancer was metastatic.
At the recommendation of Dr. Alfeiran, Isolde immediately started an immunotherapy called pembrolizumab which blocks the PD-1 pathway and helps the immune system identify and attack cancer cells. Six months later, Isolde’s scans showed that her tumors shrank significantly, and she had a complete response.
In 2017, Isolde traveled from her home in Mexico to attend the CRI Immunotherapy Patient Summit in New York City where she was grateful to meet experts and have many of her questions answered. Today, Isolde is focused advocating for patients, and recently founded IMMUNE, the first melanoma foundation in Mexico.
