We’ve all heard of skin cancer, but many don’t realize there are different forms of skin cancer. The treatment and survivability varies depending upon which type of skin cancer someone gets. Most types of skin cancer are grouped into three main categories:

• Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) – most common type of skin cancer. Generally due to exposure to sunlight or tanning beds. Usually found on head, neck and arms, but can occur anywhere on the body. Slow growing and rarely spreads to other parts of the body, but can grow deep and destroy healthy tissue, so early detection and treatment is important. Over 1 million new cases are diagnosed each year in the US.
• Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) – second most common type of skin cancer. Like BCC, often due to exposure to sunlight or tanning beds and usually occurs on head, neck and arms, however, more women get SCC on the lower legs. Can also occur on inside of mouth, lips and genitals. SCC can spread to other areas of body, but with early detection, is usually treatable. About 700,000 new cases diagnosed in US every year.
• Melanoma – less common, but deadliest form of skin cancer. Early detection key to treatment and prevention of loss of life.

In 2016, the 97-year-old mother of Ian McKenzie had the advanced stage of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) on her legs. McKenzie believed that his mom’s days were numbered and that due to the advanced stage off the cancer, that she would not make it to her next birthday.

His mom is now preparing to celebrate her 100th birthday and it’s because her doctor decided, out of desperation, to try an unusual treatment and it worked. As she is ready to become a centenarian, she is cancer free. In two years, she went from death’s door to totally cured.

So, what was this unusual treatment?

Dr. Anna Nichols of the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center injected each SCC tumor with Gardasil.

So, what’s Gardasil?

It’s the name of the vaccine used to prevent human papillomavirus, better known as HPV and one of the leading causes of cervical cancer. According to the company’s website:

“GARDASIL®9 (Human Papillomavirus 9-valent Vaccine, Recombinant) helps protect girls and women ages 9 to 26 against cervical, vaginal, vulvar, and anal cancers and genital warts caused by 9 types of HPV. GARDASIL 9helps protect boys and men ages 9 to 26 against anal cancer and genital warts caused by those same HPV types.”

Not only did the injections of Gardasil, kill the tumors, but did it so quickly. Ian commented:

“This outcome was more than what I had even hoped for. It was like the tumors were going through a dying phase, one by one.”

Dr. Nichols warns that this is a single case and may not apply to other cases. While Gardasil has shown to be helpful in the prevention of HPV caused caners, little research has been done to determine its effectiveness against other cancers. One would think that this case of McKenzie’s mom would be enough to warrant further testing on the use of Gardasil on SCC patients and on other cancerous tumors as well.