Melanoma is usually curable if found and treated early. But when it spreads, it can be deadly. An estimated 87,110 Americans were diagnosed with melanoma in 2017, according to the American Cancer Society, and 9,730 died from it.
But new treatments are showing more promise for later-stage melanoma. In addition to surgery and radiation to target his brain tumors, Carter received an intravenous course of an immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, which was approved by the FDA in 2014 for advanced melanoma.