The Iconoclast

JIM ALLISON HAS ALWAYS GONE HIS OWN WAY—AS A SMALL-TOWN-TEXAS KID WHO PREFERRED BOOKS TO FOOTBALL, AND AS A YOUNG SCIENTIST WHO BELIEVED THE IMMUNE SYSTEM COULD TREAT TUMORS WHEN FEW OTHERS DID. AND THAT IRREVERENCE LED HIM TO FIND A POTENTIAL CURE FOR CANCER.

In May 2001 a middle-aged woman named Sharon visited her oncologist for what she thought could be her final appointment. Two months earlier, Sharon had been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, and her condition was already well beyond dire. Her liver was riddled with metastases, a massive tumor was slowly collapsing her left lung, and fluid was pooling in the pleural cavity of her chest. Doctors didn’t expect her to live more than a few weeks.