My father was diagnosed in Boston in 2021 with melanoma. The tumor began in his right eye and, in time, spread to his liver. While his oncologist there was willing to initiate treatment with immunotherapy, our family had the sense that his care team in Boston hadn’t really made the effort to connect with him as a person or to understand how important it was to him to fight his disease to do the things he still wanted to do. In the early winter of 2024, Mom and Dad decided to come to Phoenix for several months. I asked Dr. Mahmoud to meet them and he graciously agreed. Both parents told me after the first visit that being at Banner MD Anderson felt warm and welcoming and that Dr. Mahmoud showed a level of interest and concern that they hadn’t experienced before. And this was important: Dad might have been in his late 80s, but he wanted as much time with his family as possible and was willing to work with his new team to make that happen. Dr. Mahmoud was always there for both of my parents. He created a treatment plan with more effective immunotherapy, investigated every conceivable clinical trial option, and worked with Dr. Price from Interventional Radiology so that Dad got aggressive and effective treatment directed at the tumor in his liver. At their meetings, Dr. Mahmoud really listened and could gauge when the time was right to push harder and when it wasn’t. And, eventually, when it was time to stop treatment altogether and shift to hospice care. Despite the fact that he takes care of so many patients, my father and our family were, and are, genuinely important to Dr. Mahmoud. As he is to us. He let me know that on his last visit with my parents, when they decided to move to hospice care, there were tears all around. He is that kind of doctor, and that kind of person.
Fade Mahmoud, MD
Oncology
Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center
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