If you grew up in South Florida, the sun is just part of life. For Jeff, it was everything.

The 77-year-old has spent decades outdoors. First working on a farm as a kid, then building a tree nursery he still runs today. Years of ultraviolet rays from the hot Florida sun left their mark on his fair skin. He remembers getting teased by girls when he was younger about his sun-kissed skin.

But what seemed like a harmless rite of South Florida life would eventually lead to a life-changing diagnosis.

Jeff had a history of skin cancer, so regular skin checks were part of his routine. Ten years ago, his dermatologist found something during one of those visits, a spot Jeff hadn't noticed on his own.

The diagnosis: melanoma. Unlike other forms of skin cancer, melanoma is known for how fast it moves.

That's exactly what happened. Follow-up scans showed the cancer hadn't stayed put. It had spread to Jeff's lungs and liver.

"I ended up getting that phone call I didn't want to get," Jeff recalled. "My PET scan came back positive, and it had spread."

Fifteen years ago, a stage 4 melanoma diagnosis like Jeff's would have come with a very different outlook. Chemotherapy often failed to stop the cancer from spreading, and survival rates were grim.

But medicine had changed, and Jeff's timing was fortunate. Atif Hussein, MD, hematologist and and oncologist at Memorial Cancer Institute, recommended immunotherapy, a newer class of treatment that works differently from traditional cancer drugs. Instead of directly attacking cancer cells, immunotherapy activates the patient's own immune system to do the fighting. For the last 10 years, Jeff has been receiving regular infusions, and the results have been remarkable.

Today, his cancer is gone.

For Dr. Hussein, Jeff's journey represents something bigger than one patient's outcome. It's proof of how far cancer care has come.

"It's a privilege and honor to see someone like Jeff," he said. "A few years ago, you wouldn't have expected him to live a couple of years. Now he’s not just living; he is thriving."

Today, 60% of patients with stage 4 melanoma who receive immunotherapy live 10 years or longer. That number would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

Like any treatment, immunotherapy isn't without side effects. Because the therapy supercharges the immune system, it can sometimes cause it to mistakenly attack healthy tissue — including joints — leading to inflammation and arthritis. The good news is that in about half of patients, the arthritis goes away on its own once treatment ends.

Jeff is living proof that early detection and advances in treatment can make a difference, even when the odds seem stacked against you.

If you spend time in the Florida sun, don't skip your annual skin check. And if you've already received a diagnosis that feels overwhelming, know that options exist that didn't exist a decade ago.