Twenty-two-year-old Kaylee Engle crumbled on the floor of a hospital corridor when she got the news.
She had just learned that her body was littered with melanoma skin cancer who had spread to other parts of her body.
The Canadian had seven brain tumors, at least 18 in its liver, and at least 20 in every lung, plus two next to her heart, and tumors in her spine, lymph nodes and adrenal glands.
“It is so widespread-it is everywhere,” said Nanny, based in Toronto.
In July 2023 she discovered a single lump next to her right breast, which she broke away as ‘just a cyst’.
It looked more like an ingrown hair or a pimple under the skin.
But when Engle continued to find new nodules that formed in different areas, she knew something was wrong.
After an X -ray, doctors discovered that the nodules miniature tumors were all over her body after cancer -like skin cells spread through her bloodstream to other organs.
Looking back, other symptoms that she covers were clearly linked: unintended weight gain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.
Until learning that she has stage IVanoma, Engle was a healthy young woman with a few benign birthmarks that doctors had removed from caution
In the beginning, doctors also believed in the urgent care that the nodules were relatively benign cysts.
But X -rays confirmed the worst: the melanoma had invaded her lungs, bones and brains.
The chance of dying on the cancer is exponentially higher as soon as it has spread to other parts of the body.
Only one in five patients with phase 4 melanoma lives five years after the diagnosis.
But not only is Engle here two years later, her cancer has been stabilized since then and is no longer growing.
Engle started only a few days after her diagnosis in June 2023 with chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments.
“Although my diagnosis stage is four and has spread almost everywhere, this still doesn’t mean” terminal, “she said.
“Here I am four diagnosis in 2025, almost two years at my stage, with so many options for treatment now, and they have much more hope to extend my life.”
Engle said nodules like the shown to appear everywhere in her body. Doctors of Urgent Care first told her that they were probably benign cysts. But her constant nausea and fatigue led her to the hospital for further testing
“Here I am four diagnosis in 2025, almost two years at my stage, with so many options for treatment now, and they have much more hope to extend my life,” said Engle
From May 2025 she received 18 rounds of an immunotherapy medication called Nivolumab.
Engle started with double immunotherapy but stopped after two doses as a result of auto -immune hepatitis – a condition in which the immune system attacks the liver, causing inflammation and potential damage
After he had died over her hepatitis, Engle continued a regime of Nivolumab in addition to radiation treatments for tumors in her brain and eyes.
But it will be a constant fight for the rest of her life of life
“I could probably be treated for the rest of my life, but there are cases of people with Ned (no proof of illness),” she added.
Until learning her devastating diagnosis, Engle was a healthy young woman.
Over the years, doctors had removed several benign birthmarks from an abundance of caution.
Moles are groups of normal melanin-forming cells. But damage to the DNA of those cells, often due to heavy exposure to UV rays, can cause skin cancer.
Engle, a babysitter based in Toronto, has come to terms with the fact that she will probably use cancer medication for the rest of her life, but is convinced that she will beat the chances of survival
Until learning her devastating diagnosis, Engle was a healthy young woman with a few benign birthmarks that doctors had removed from caution
Cancer cells can then come loose from the original tumor and the lymphatic system, a network of vessels throughout the body and the bloodstream, where they can multiply and form more tumors that were the lumps over the body of Engle.
‘By the time I was diagnosed, I was [already] Convinced that I had cancer, but still, it was discovered from certain a shock, “she said.
“But it felt validating that I knew something was wrong with my body.”
She was confronted with a bumpy road to find the treatment of cancer that worked for her, including her part of Auto -Immuun Hepatitis.
“My girlfriend and I were shopping when I received a phone call from my oncologist who said that my supplies were very high – normally they should be less than 50 and mine were a maximum of 500.”
“They said that I had to go to the hospital immediately for IV steroids, which I got a week or so every day to get the numbers down and then eventually started treatment once they were.”
She had to take another break in October 2024 when she started to suffer in breathing problems.
An X-ray of the breast found the true cause phase four melanoma [skin cancer]who had spread over her body, including seven tumors in her brain, and more than 20 tumors in each of her lungs
Engle’s future remains uncertain. Progress in immunotherapy and highly targeted therapies have been accelerated over the past decade, with promising evidence that they can reduce tumors, extend the survival and in some cases can reach a long -term remission of advanced cancer
Given the 20 tumors in every lung and the immunotherapy she used, doctors first feared that it was a case of pneumonitis or swelling of her lung tissues.
Fortunately it was not, and doctors concluded that the living drugs she used were not the cause. It was rather a consequence of the cancer -like tumors in her lungs.
But she was placed on the steroid prednisone for months, notorious because of the side effects, including agitation, ‘moon face’ and swelling elsewhere in the body.
Toronto is a hub for medical innovation, which makes it possible to access the most advanced treatments.
She will soon undergo a blood test that will screen for specific indications such as tumormutations or immune markers, which will determine whether it is suitable for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyt therapy (TIL).
It uses her own immune cells found in its tumors, which are extracted and brought to a lab where scientists insulate a mix of immune cells – usually T cells – that the tumors had infiltrated but were overtaken by the cancer.
The scientists then multiply them exponentially and place them in bioreactors that they infuse with nutrients and growth factors, creating an army of immune cells that are again cheated in the body of Engle.
She said, “[It] Is not yet approved in Canada, but the American drug company has agreed to get compassionate treatment here before it is approved for test in Canada, which will be done by my oncologist.
Engle, shown in entering the MRI machine, has received 18 rounds of an immunotherapy medication called Nivolumab. The results were initially mixed, with some tumors shrinking and some grow. But most lesions are stabilized
“My oncologist thinks it can be a great option and I could probably continue my immunotherapy afterwards if necessary!”
Her future remains uncertain.
Progress in immunotherapy and highly targeted therapies have been accelerated over the past decade, with promising evidence that they can reduce tumors, extend the survival and in some cases can achieve a long -term remission of advanced cancer.
“I will try everything to let me lead a full life,” she said.
“But I just enjoy every day as much as I can and I have a lot of hope for the future, whether if the treatment is treatment or being cancer -free, what the ideal goal is for me – and of which I know I can eventually achieve.”
A mole that is itchy, painful or soft may not be ignored. Moreover, mole that ‘bleeding, becoming painful or start crying liquid’ alarming signs.
Main warning signals of a potentially cancer -like mole include rapid growth, color changes and irregular form.
A mole that grows noticeably within a few weeks, develops several or uneven colors (such as brown, black, red, white or blue), or is asymmetrical, must be evaluated by a doctor because these changes can indicate skin cancer.
Thirty percent of melanoma -cases start in birthmarks, but a small percentage has fallen that cannot be traced back on one site.
The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2024 almost 105,000 cases of melanoma will be diagnosed and that about four percent stage will be four.
Melanoma kills more than 8,300 Americans every year, according to the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF), but about 90 percent of the cases are considered to be prevented by vigilance about the safety of the sun.
The average age of the diagnosis is 63 years old.
Melanoma, however, has been one of the most common cancers in people younger than 30, and according to Cleveland Clinic has increased ‘dramatically’ over the past three decades.
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