Jennifer Matthews: When Ron Windle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he never imagined he'd be alive and still walking hand-in-hand with his wife three years later.
Ron Windle :I was afraid. I still have many things to do in life.
Jennifer Matthews: Ron had surgery, chemo and radiation. Still, he only had a 20% chance of surviving five years based on statistics. That was until he enrolled in a clinical trial testing a new vaccine. Doctors at Johns Hopkins give patients the vaccine after surgery and again after chemo and radiation.
Daniel Laheru: I think we're very encouraged. What makes it exciting is the science behind the vaccine.
Jennifer Matthews: The vaccine uses genetically altered cells to create a molecule. The molecule lures immune cells -- shown here as red circles -- and retrains them to recognize the tumor, the green blob on the screen -- as cancer and fight it.
Daniel Laheru: Essentially, it teaches the immune system to recognize those pancreas cancer cells as being foreign and attack them specifically.
Jennifer Matthews: So far, the results have been encouraging. With the vaccine, 76% of patients are alive after two years compared to 42% of patients who only received chemo and radiation. Ron is one of the lucky ones. Today, he's cancer-free!
Ron Windle: I'm sure it's why I'm here today. I've had many MRIs and cat scans, and there's no sign of cancer, none.
Jennifer Matthews: And he hopes to continue beating the odds. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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