Keri Schloredt Shares Her Melanoma Story

Guest blog post by Keri Schloredt, Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma Survivor:

“The Episode That Wasn’t Supposed to Be Mine

In March 2009, millions of people watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where a young female doctor named Izzy Stevens was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic melanoma right before her wedding.

It was dramatic. Emotional. Unimaginable.

And for me, it was Familiar – because I was living that exact story in real life.

Just a few months earlier, in December 2008, I had found a lump in my groin and had been diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic melanoma myself. The only difference?

My diagnosis came right before my 40th birthday, not a TV wedding.

Like Izzy, I went through surgery. Mine was 5 ½ hours and the surgical oncologist removed ALL the lymph nodes from my left leg and pelvis area.

Like Izzy, I endured high-dose Interleukin-2 (IL-2), one of the most aggressive and toxic treatments available. But I had to stop mid-way since my liver was beginning to fail from the toxins.

And like Izzy… I survived.

But unlike an ending to a TV character’s storyline that wraps things up in a couple of episodes, my story keeps going. There’s only the next decision. And the one after that.

The Decisions That Matter Most

After surgery and IL-2, my oncologist and I had to decide what came next. At the time, options were limited. Immunotherapy research was still emerging, and many of the treatments available today were not available to me, since they were still in clinical trials.

We chose to use an existing drug called GM-CSF (Leukine), that is typically used to stimulate the patient’s own production of white blood cells, specifically used after chemotherapy. For me, it became something else entirely: a long-term maintenance regime and defense-system type therapy, hoping to enhance my immune cell activity and fight off any remaining melanoma cancer cells.

Two weeks on. Two weeks off.
For thirteen years. That’s a long relationship with a syringe.

That decision, and the partnership with my doctor, shaped everything that followed.

So, while I was engaged in this long-term commitment with an uncertain, unconventional treatment and grasping to hope, something incredible was happening around me: medicine was evolving.

The options that weren’t approved by the FDA when I was diagnosed, are now saving lives every single day. Survival rates have improved dramatically. What once felt like a long shot is now, for many, a very real chance.

That progress didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of research, advocacy, and people who refused to accept the status quo.

Looking back, I realize something important: If you’re navigating melanoma today, there are two decisions that will matter more than anything else:

1. Choose your oncologist carefully.
This is not just a doctor, it’s your partner. Do your research. Get second opinions. Visit multiple medical centers. Trust your instincts. You deserve someone who listens, who explains, and who treats you like a human being, not just a case.

2. Understand your treatment options.
The landscape has changed dramatically. In 2009, I was given a 10% chance of surviving ten years and a choice of only 3 undesirable, highly toxic, therapies: Chemotherapy, Interferon and IL-2. Today, thanks to advances in immunotherapy and research, survival rates have improved in ways we couldn’t have imagined back then and, there are multiple immunotherapies and combinations to choose from.

So once those 2 decisions are made, hold on to them with confidence, try to let go of the doubt, be hopeful, because HOPE is as powerful as any medication I have ever taken. And the good news is that hope is no longer the exception. It’s becoming the expectation.

What I Wish Everyone Knew About Melanoma

The most important part of my melanoma story isn’t actually about what happened after my diagnosis — it’s about what could have happened before it.

So here it is. The simplest, most important advice I can give you:

1. Wear sunscreen. Every day.

Not just at the beach. Not just on sunny days. Every day your skin is exposed.
Protect your skin like it matters, because it does.

2. Avoid sunburns, tanning beds and over exposure to the sun at any cost.

A tan and sunburns are skin damage, it’s cumulative and adds up over time. Do not ever use tanning beds. The risk is not worth your life!

“The tanning bed lamps will deliver extraordinarily high levels of UVA radiation and… They (also) give you high levels of UVB – it’s the equivalent of being high noon at the equator, but then on top of that, they give you 15x as much UVA radiation as can be experienced anywhere on the surface of the planet earth… This odd blend of UV radiation, basically high UVB and super physiological levels of UVA might be inducing these one-off mutations” Hunter Shain PhD (UCSF) Northwest Melanoma Symposium: Science to Survivorship- Seattle, WA 05.02.26

3. Get checked yearly by a board-certified dermatologist.

This one saves lives. Full stop and period.
(Tip: Do your own quick, routine, monthly skin checks, noticing any changes, as you can catch something early too.)

Why I Keep Sharing My Story

Every May, during Melanoma Awareness Month, and again in the fall during the Seattle Miles For Melanoma 5k event, I share these same three reminders.

Not because they’re new.
But because they’re easy to ignore.

And every year, someone reaches out to tell me they scheduled a skin check because of something I posted… and found something that needed attention.

Sometimes it’s precancerous.
Sometimes it’s more serious.

But every single time, it was caught earlier than it would have been otherwise and that’s why this matters.

And that’s why I keep sharing.

What Seventeen TV Seasons Looks Like

Seventeen years later, my storyline includes:

50+ biopsies

19 PET scans

6 CT scans

4 Brain MRIs

4 Mohs procedures to remove basal or squamous cell carcinomas on my

face that temporarily left me looking like something out of a boxing match.

In the end, I am left with one lasting side effect: Stage 2 lymphedema in my left leg. But even that has a hopeful chapter.

Thanks to another episode I saw on Grey’s Anatomy back in 2012 and then the actual advancements in microsurgery that I learned about at a Melanoma Research Foundation sponsored, Northwest Melanoma Symposium at Fred Hutchinson Research Center in Seattle in May of 2023, I was able to receive a type of lymph node bypass procedure (LVA surgery) in 2024— and it’s made a significant improvement in my lymphedema and meaningful difference in my quality of life.

Progress isn’t just something we talk about. It’s something I’m living.

I carry scars — visible and invisible. But I also carry something else: perspective.

I’ve seen firsthand how far we’ve come in melanoma treatment. And thanks to the Melanoma Research Foundation and my amazing team of doctors in Seattle, I’ve benefited from it. And I’ve watched awareness, simple awareness, change outcomes for people I care about.

If You Take Anything From This…

It’s that you don’t need to go through what I did to learn that:

TV doctors might not be real — but the diagnoses, treatments, and hope absolutely are.

You do have control — over your doctors, your treatment, and your mindset.

Protect of your skin by: Wearing sunscreen daily, avoiding burns, tanning beds and overexposure to the sun and making the yearly board-certified dermatologist appointment

Because the best melanoma story…is the one that never has to be told.

Still Here. Still Hopeful.

My journey may have started like a TV drama in 2009, but today, we are getting closer to a world where Melanoma doesn’t have to end anyone’s story too soon.

Seventeen years later, I’m still here. Still hopeful. Still advocating. And still wearing sunscreen.

Thank you!” – Keri

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