Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed that he fought phase 4 melanoma for ten years, reported the Dallas Morning News.
Jones was contacted by the newspaper after a comment he made during the Netflix documentary: “America’s team: The Gambler and his Cowboys.”
In the documentary, Jones referred to undergoing cancer treatments ‘about a dozen years ago’, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Jones said he had undergone treatment in the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2010.
Jones, now 82, said he had four operations during the following decade – two with his lungs, two with his lymph nodes. He credits the experimental test medicine PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) for saving his life.
“I was saved by fantastic treatment and great doctors and a real miracle (medicine) called PD-1 (therapy),” said Jones. “I went to taste for that PD-1 and it has been one of the big medicines. I have no tumors.”
Phase 4 melanoma means “Cancer has spread past the skin to other organs, such as the lungs or liver”, according to the Mayo Clinic.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the drug helps to combat the immune system “cancer cells by blocking PD-1, allowing T cells to better recognize and destroy cancer cells.”
