Author, Panel Explore Melanoma Loss, Prevention at TAMIU Tuesday

                  An author and husband’s effort to chronicle loss now offers an opportunity to prevent further losses.

                  Dr. Jesús Gutíerrez has written a book, Until the End:  A Fight for Survival, which details his family’s journey of discovery and loss as his wife Fanny battled a malignant and ultimately fatal skin cancer, melanoma.  On Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., he will share his book alongside panelists with medical and personal skin cancer expertise at Texas A&M International University’s Senator Judith Zaffirini Student Success Center, room 101.

                  Joining Dr. Gutíerrez will be local dermatologist Dr. Robert D. Hudson and skin cancer survivors, Harold Shockley and Dennis Nixon.  Dr. Glenda Walker, TAMIU Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ Dr. F. M. Canseco School of Nursing will moderate the panel discussion.

                  Admission is free of charge and open to the public.

                  Dr. Hudson is Board-certified in Dermatology and has special expertise in Melanoma. He has been in practice over 33 years.

Shockley, a Corpus Christi native, is a community champion and president and CEO of International Bank of Commerce-Corpus Christi.

                  Nixon, of Laredo, is a long-time civic leader here and president and CEO of International Bank of Commerce and chairman of the International Banchares Corporation.

                  Gutíerrez’ book offers an unflinching assessment of the battle the family shared as his afflicted wife Fanny endured a nine-year battle alongside her husband and two sons.    With equal parts of courage, discovery, positivity and grief, Until the End affirms that cancer, while individual, affects everyone surrounding the individual in often daily reminders.

                  Cancer of the skin is now the most common of all cancers, and although Melanoma accounts for less than 2% of skin cancer cases, it causes the greatest majority of skin cancer deaths.  According to estimates by the American Cancer Society, about 73,870 new melanomas will be diagnosed in men and women in 2015.  Of that group, 9,940 are expected to die of melanoma.

                   The author earned a law degree at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Ph.D. in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.  He is currently a financial advisor for a major Wall Street investment company.

                    Originally from Bustamante, Nuevo León, México, he lived and practiced law in Mexico City for the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público for seven years prior to continuing graduate studies at UT-Austin.

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