Jennifer Matthews: Joe Picone is a chef. But lately, many of his meals are consumed in this hospital cafeteria. Joe is also a cancer patient. He went to the doctor for what he thought was a wart on the bottom of his foot. Turns out it was stage four melanoma.
Joe Picone: You got to play the hand that God dealt you and I'm playing the hand in the best way I could.
Jennifer Matthews: There is no cure, so Joe agreed to be the first human to try an experimental treatment.
Joe Picone: Having cancer, stage four, you kind of reach for anything you can get, so I was like, 'OK'.
Jennifer Matthews: Joe had Electroporation. Oncologist Adil Daud says it's a promising new gene therapy treatment.
Dr. Adil Daud: Electroporation has never been used in human beings for any type of gene therapy before."
Jennifer Matthews: This device is placed in the tumor and delivers electricity, which causes pores to form. The pores allow an immune boosting gene to get inside the tumor.
Dr. Adil Daud: It will be like a flag that says danger or warning to the immune system."
Jennifer Matthews: Joe is a former athlete and doesn't consider himself a wimp... But he says the treatment was tough.
Joe Picone: It was like an electric shock, you know. They held me down.
Jennifer Matthews: Each shock lasts six seconds. Since Joe's treatment, no new lesions have formed. Doctor Daud says several of his patients have also had their tumors shrink.
Dr. Adil Daud: We haven't had a real breakthrough in melanoma treatment for a while.
Jennifer Matthews: Only time will tell if this will be the one.
This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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