The 'Fight' of Her Life

A week later, in April 2025, she underwent a colonoscopy with Ali Dural, MD, a gastroenterologist affiliated with Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center. After the procedure, Dr. Dural told Zamora she had colon cancer. “All I could think of was my boys,” she remembers. “Dr. Dural told me to get ready for the fight of my life.”

Zamora was referred to an oncologist and Mark Pidala, MD, an assistant professor of surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and a Memorial Hermann-affiliated surgeon specializing in colon and rectal surgery. Zamora underwent a CT scan and PET scan to assess where else the cancer may be. Those advanced diagnostic tests revealed a lesion in her liver.

“I knew that cancer in my colon and the lesion in my liver meant that I had stage IV, or metastatic, cancer,” Zamora says.

Armed with that information, she saw her oncologist and learned that chemotherapy had to precede her surgery to reduce the chance of the cancer spreading further.  After under going six rounds of chemotherapy, she had colon surgery with Dr. Pidala in September 2025.

She also met with John Hardaway, MD, PhD, a surgical oncologist affiliated with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands, to discuss treatment for her liver tumors. Dr. Hardaway thought she was a candidate for histotripsy.

“When Melissa came to see me, we talked about how chemotherapy and the surgery to treat her colon cancer factored into our options for treatment of the liver lesions,” Dr. Hardaway explains. “Because she wasn’t a candidate for blood products due to her religious beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness and because histotripsy doesn’t require patients to stop chemotherapy, I presented the procedure as an option to treat her liver tumors. Her case was discussed at our regular tumor board with other specialists weighing in, and they agreed she was a great candidate for this type of treatment.”

Approved by U.S. Food & Drug Administration for treatment of primary liver cancer and tumors that metastasize to the liver, histotripsy is a unique non-invasive procedure that uses ultrasound technology applied through the skin to destroy tumors in the liver without making an incision.

In histotripsy procedures, pulsed sound waves emitted from a treatment head that is submerged in a water bath and placed on the patient’s abdomen are directed at the tumors. The ultrasound waves create expanding and collapsing bubbles in a cloud formation that results in a vacuum and causes the tumor tissue to burst into a liquid, while sparing collagen-rich tissue, such as blood vessels and bile ducts, near or in the treatment area.

Then the body’s lymphatic system drains the liquified tumors, and over time, normal liver tissue grows back into the histotripsy cavity. Memorial Hermann-TMC began offering this treatment to patients in August 2025. “Histotripsy’s non-invasive approach makes it ideal for high-risk patients who can’t safely tolerate surgery or ablation,” Dr. Hardaway says.

Despite being a non-invasive treatment, histotripsy requires general anesthesia to minimize patient movement during the procedure. The risk of bleeding and the need for blood products is significantly reduced since histotripsy does not affect critical blood vessels in the liver and does not require incisions or any penetration of the skin.

The treatment also does not involve ionizing radiation, or heat, to kill the tumors as with traditional liver tumor ablation, so damage to surrounding tissues is also minimized. During the procedures, physicians watch tumors disappear on a video screen and see a cavity left behind.

In December 2025, Zamora underwent histotripsy at Memorial Hermann-TMC to treat the tumors in her liver. “This is a life-changing treatment,” she says. “I was sore from the breathing tube down my throat, but I had no pain at the treatment site.”

When follow-up imaging after her initial histotripsy revealed evidence of cancer cells in the cavity left behind from treatment, Zamora underwent a second histotripsy in June 2026. A week after treatment, a CT scan indicated that three new small lesions were present elsewhere in her liver.

Zamora says she plans to restart chemotherapy and have histotripsy again to treat them. She remains optimistic and grateful to her doctors for how they work together. “I’m in the ideal position since I know what to expect and have tolerated the treatments very well,” she says.

Zamora’s care team will continue to monitor her for tumors. “Patients with stage IV colorectal cancer are closely monitored after tumors in their colon and liver are treated, as more than half will develop additional liver tumors. We’ll continue to monitor Melissa at regular intervals and can repeat the treatment as needed to reduce the burden of disease,” Dr. Hardaway explains.

Dr. Hardaway notes that in response to the community’s desire to have this treatment available in north Houston, Memorial Hermann has invested in a second histotripsy treatment platform at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands. “The non-invasive nature of histotripsy and its potential for liver regrowth is leading to a paradigm shift in treating liver cancer. It’s borderline science fiction and is the next evolution of cancer treatment,” says Dr. Hardaway.

Memorial Hermann The Woodlands is also home of the Canopy Cancer Survivorship Center, which offers a wide variety of programs and services addressing the emotional, physical and social needs of those touched by cancer. It supports the medical center’s desire to provide the community with a model for the continuum of cancer care that includes diagnosis, advanced treatments like histotripsy and support services for those patients regularly monitored after their treatment.

A regular proponent and participant in Canopy programs, Zamora says she’s thrilled to know that histotripsy is now available in The Woodlands, where she can also take advantage of Canopy’s counseling and support groups.

“I want people to know this is not a death sentence,” she says. “I urge patients to advocate for themselves and to avoid becoming a statistic. You don’t have to accept the first line of care. Look for physicians who listen to you and are on your team. That is what I found with Dr. Hardaway and my care team. It’s been a fantastic experience.”