what do we do now? what s our next step? how do we battle this? the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, her bones, her liver. the treatment was grueling. i had two surgeries to remove lymph nodes. 32 treatments of radiation and two weeks of interferon treatments. and none of it worked. the cancer was still there. her doctor was out of options for her. so he sent her to the vanderbilt-ingram cancer center. dr. jeff saussman is running a clinical trial that tests an experimental drug that targets a genetic mutation in her tumor that is making her cancer grow. that mutation actually triggers the tumor cell to multiply. the mutation called braf is a protein found in half of all melanoma patients. we have a drug or a molecule that can block the function of that protein.