#EyeGetDilated for Melanoma Awareness Month: Neil Corman

Guest blog by Neil Corman, an ocular melanoma survivor and advocate who shares his journey after her recent diagnosed in 2016:

It was just a few days before Christmas in 2016 when I went for a “routine” eye exam. Routine maybe isn’t the right word for the exam as it had been at least twenty years since my last eye exam. I went to the exam having noticed a black spot in my vision in my left eye. I didn’t think much about as I had limited vision in that eye since junior high and it was only when checking traffic over my left shoulder why driving. After eye drops, tests and looking at my eyes I was informed by the doctor I had a partially detached retina and was referred to a specialist across town for an appointment about 90 minutes later. I made my way to the appointment and once I saw the doctor it was within 10 seconds, he unfortunately informed me it was not a detached retina but instead ocular melanoma a cancer of the eye. While he delivered the news, he informed me there was a doctor in their practice which is a specialist in the area and I was soon on his schedule to meet later that day.

As I walked out of the office, I was not sure what to think. What is ocular melanoma? Should I have been more careful of wearing sunglasses? Was it because of the prior injury in my eye? And the thoughts and questions went on and on as I fought back tears. I got into an Uber and found my way to another office across town to meet with the specialist, Dr. Hovland. With my third eye appointment within six hours, I was starting to become an expert of drops in my eyes and having the pressure taken even if it had been many years since my last eye exam. After a couple of hours of tests and discussion with the doctor I did find out a little more about ocular melanoma. We also had a plan for attacking the cancer, while the Christmas holiday was here it would push out the treatment to January. When I left the office, I was still in shock and found myself starting to walk home when after a couple of miles I realized what I was doing and completed the final few miles. This may have been the best thing I could do as I let my thoughts gather.

Waiting through the holiday for the additional tests and visits to doctor in preparation for the plaque radiation (brachytherapy) treatment, I found roughly 2,000 adults are diagnosed in the United States each year with ocular melanoma. With the odds of contracting this type of cancer being 1 in 129,000 in the United States (roughly 23 new cases each year in the Denver metro area), you can see why I had not heard of ocular melanoma before nor had my friends and family. While this is a rare cancer, it can also be aggressive with a 50% chance of metastasis over the first five years. The liver is the most common place for metastasis. with the lungs being next.

Over six years after plaque radiation treatment, I am happy to report I am healthy and continuing to fight ocular melanoma. At this time my bi-annual scans have come back with No Evidence of Disease (NED), which means the cancer has not spread elsewhere in my body.

As I move forward and monitor the internal organs for metastasis as well as the eye for any impacts from the radiation treatment. On the day I was diagnosed with ocular melanoma, I asked myself a lot of questions about this cancer and I learned some of the answers after diagnosis but continue to learn more as often as possible.

One of the first thoughts I wanted to ask about this type of melanoma is if this is this related to skin melanoma and could it have been prevented wearing sunglasses. The two are not related as there is no link between UV exposure and ocular melanoma, and as with most other cancers the exact cause is still unknown. To help in identifying patterns, the Melanoma Research Foundation has created the VISION Registry to help identify demographic information which can help researchers and physicians to accelerate progress and advance towards a cure. Before the registry there have been clusters of ocular melanoma identified and the hope is the registry can continue to help with this data analysis finding patterns from the information which as a patient I have provided.

I have now changed my mind set to also be an advocate. Over the past six years I have attended the CURE OM Patient & Caregiver Symposium in which there is the opportunity to listen to the foremost researchers and physicians working on the common goal to make progress on treatment. From Denver, Raleigh, Philadelphia and Tampa, I have not only met fellow patients but heard of the progress through clinical trials and new forms of treatment. This is just the first step in the scientific advancement happening with ocular melanoma.

As I look at more ways to make my voice heard, this year I attended the MRF’s Advocacy Summit and Hill Day in Washington DC. The opportunity to speak to the policy directors for my legislators to help promote legislation for patients, as well as funding for all types of melanoma was an amazing experience which I look forward to doing in the future.

I think about this chance encounter often and it reminds me of the importance of living in the present. These last few years have changed the perspective for me and pushes me to live for those experiences not only now but over the next thirty, forty or more years. Ocular melanoma did not take away my passion of photography, nor travel. It just reminded me these are important parts of my life as well and lets me continue to live. My partner, Shira, who became part of my life after my treatment encourages me to take part of these passions and she also seeks to learn more about ocular melanoma starting to join me at the annual symposium. Recently at an annual eye doctor appointment she asked for a dilated eye exam, which gave a pause from the doctor and a response that she didn’t need one but would be happy to do so since she asked.

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