Treatment Begins
Dear Friend,
I arrived in Seoul 12 days ago. Only a few days earlier cancer experts at Mongolia's National Cancer Center had confirmed that I had a large tumor on my tonsil that had involved my tongue and the lymph nodes in my neck. It was inoperable and life-threatening. Not knowing what to do, I contacted my old friend in Boston, Dr. Tom Gassert. Tom told me about a new cancer treatment called "immunotherapy" and pointed me to Korea.
Soon thereafter, I also had contacted old friends in San Francisco, Richard and Jean Joh. Serendipitously, Richard's brother, it turned out, was a graduate of Korea's Yonsei University Medical School, of which hospital, Yonsei Severance Hospital, is considered one the best in the world at treating cancer. Through his introduction, Dr. Kim Hye Ryun, one of a small coterie of head-and-neck oncologists around the world expert in immunotherapy, had agreed to see me as an add-on to her regularly scheduled consultations by the time I touched down in Korea.
A week of scans, exams and tests followed. Last Thursday, Dr. Kim gave me her diagnosis, prognosis and strategy of treatment, which involved immunotherapy and chemotherapy in parallel and radiotherapy in between. The cancer had not yet spread and its type, "HPV-plus squamous carcinoma" is more susceptible to immunotherapy and chemotherapy agents, which meant that my chances of recovering was better than initially thought. She was confident we could get my life back. But how was I going to pay for the special care needed? My Mongolian insurance was useless in Korea.
Tom was still on the phone constantly as my medical adviser, and Jean took charge, stepping in to organize this fundraiser on GoFundMe. And here's the picture: At 1627 (4:27 P.M), Monday, June23, 2025, a Korean nurse started dripping Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), the "wonder drug" of immunotherapy into my veins.
I wouldn't be here without your help.
For those who know me: It's at moments like these you learn who your friends are. I won't forget.
For those I have not had the chance to meet: It's at moments like these that good people find you – if you're lucky. You're a good person. I'm lucky. I hope we meet and I have an opportunity to repay your kindness. If we don't, it's on me to pay your kindness forward.
Thank you!
Mike