Mara in the snow.

February 2006

A fifteen month old Mara had recently started walking and talking and was providing plenty of great energy around the house. However, Dan’s diagnosis with Stage IV Melanoma signaled that 2006 was going to be a very difficult year. The Howards called an emergency meeting in Key West, Florida to go over all the possible treatment plans and to possibly test brother Dave’s theory that large amounts of alcohol could wipe out the cancer. The brothers spent a long day at the bars discussing treatment options, then proceeded to party until 5 AM two nights in a row. We didn’t cure the cancer but Dan once again demonstrated his resolve to fight.


Unlike most cancers, Melanoma past stage II has no proven cure and therefore has no standard course of treatment. Dan was forced to evaluate clinical trials to choose the most promising. Dan and Pam, with help from friends and family arranged visits with the top Melanoma specialists around the country. Dan discussed or met with specialists in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Houston. There was no consensus on treatment strategy, with each doctor recommending different strategies. Dan and Pam had to make their own decision and chose a difficult but potentially promising path of a series of clinical trials and drug treatments. Each one would be followed by tests to determine the effectiveness of the treatment. If a trial or drug treatment did not work, he’d move onto another and another until he found one that worked.