Nebraska Medicine finds success with first-of-its-kind cancer treatment

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Life-saving cancer treatments have grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. But a doctor in Nebraska believes that in the world of cancer therapies, we've only scratched the surface.

Meet Alan Moses.

"I feel fine," he says. "I've got good energy."

But it wasn't always that way. Three years ago, Alan braced for the worst.

"I was down to 107 [pounds]," he said. "I thought it was all over."

No apetite, no energy. Simply put: exhausted. He also had a crisis of confidence thinking about his rare cancer diagnosis, and his treatment options.

"I had to walk him through this, that he could do it," said Dr. Matt Lunning, a Clinical Director at Nebraska Medicine. "I believed he could do it in spite of his lung condition, and despite his hearing impairment. That we can find a way, and that this is the right therapy for him and it matches the risk of his disease."

This summer, at Nebraska Medicine, Alan Moses became the first person in the entire world to get the commercial form of car-t cell therapy for mantle cell lymphoma. In essence, his cells were re-engineered, and infused back into him to target the cancers.

"It's like infantry for the immune system," said Dr. Lunning. "What we're doing is investing in the infantry by sending them to the Army Ranger school so they come back as elite fighters against their cancer."

Because the therapy is so powerful and takes aim at the entire immune system — both the good and bad parts — Alan needed to be monitored by the medical team on campus for a few weeks. He walked the halls of the Buffet Cancer Center at UNMC to keep his mind from racing. According to Alan, 13 laps is a mile.

"I walked 40 miles in 10 days," Alan said.

Alan has been able to hear since 1992, so his wife, Molly, used a white board and marker to communicate with her husband, while the doctors wore a see-through mask for lip reading.

For the doctors, Alan's case represents the bigger picture in regards to the future of cancer treatment.

"Equity of access," said Dr. Lunning. "Even if he has a sensory impairment, we can work with that to deliver this life-saving technology to everybody.

Nebraska Medicine currently has 191 clinical trials underway.

Meanwhile, Alan is still walking — only now, around his home in Des Moines, Iowa. That is, after doctors told him his cancer is in remission.