Jennifer Matthews: Gene miller and his wife Maria understand danger. Gene was a military interrogator during the gulf war. Now he faces a different enemy -- colon cancer.
Gene Miller: Just before Christmas I was diagnosed with metastasis of the colon cancer to my liver.
Jennifer Matthews: Thanks to a new study, gene may have a new weapon in this battle. It's a vaccine made from a de-activated virus. Doctors hope it will trick the immune system into fighting the cancer.
Dr. Heinz-Josef Lenz: I'm very hopeful that this is a very important and successful approach. It's just too early to say how effective this treatment will be.
Jennifer Matthews: Gene signed up for the study for two reasons. First, he hopes it will help him.
Gene Miller: But I'm even more hopeful that something will come out of this where we'll have a drug that will be useful for people in the future. So they don't have to go through this traditional chemo which really kind of sucks, basically.
Jennifer Matthews: Unlike other experimental vaccines that are used as a last resort, this one is given with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment.
Dr. Heinz-Josef Lenz: With chemotherapy we kill cells. And at the same time, we stimulate the body to recognize these tumor cells to further enhance the effect of cell killing.
Jennifer Matthews: Gene says his last tests showed his cancer wasn't spreading and might even be retreating.
Gene Miller: In the last month my energy level has come up, and so I've been feeling a lot better. So that also helps maintain a little more optimism.
Jennifer Matthews: Doctors hope that optimism, combined with the new vaccine, will help gene win this latest fight. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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