Seven years ago, Vancouver resident Lane Mimnaugh’s metastatic melanoma diagnosis would have meant he had just months to live.

Patients typically underwent chemotherapy with side effects that caused their quality of life to decline. They died within six to eight months of the diagnosis, said Dr. Aruna Reddy, an oncologist with PeaceHealth Medical Group.

“Prior to 2011, metastatic melanoma has been a really deadly disease,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of options.”

But today — more than two years after his diagnosis — Mimnaugh, 49, is alive and doing well on a relatively new drug that uses his own immune system to fight the cancer.

“This can’t be just chance,” Mimnaugh said. “This all lined up at the right time. It’s just amazing to still be around.”