OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) A cancer survivor is sharing his miraculous story after he was given a year to live.
Danial “Danny” Millar, aged 74, resides on a ranch in Jones surrounded by numerous animals. After battling various forms of cancer for 25 years, his condition recently took a serious downturn.
affiliate KFOR spoke with him and his doctor about a special therapy he received that he said gave him a second chance at life.
“You can’t feel sorry for yourself because nobody else is going to either,” Danny said.
Despite his health struggles, Danny has always looked ahead, handling life step by step. He has rarely let obstacles deter him, maintaining resilience even when informed of the worsening cancer prognosis.
“The follicular lymphoma I had for years had morphed to a very acute, different form of lymphoma,” Danny said. “And he said, I can’t handle this.”
Upon his doctor’s advice, Danny sought out a specialist for a potential new treatment. He was referred to Dr. Taha Al-Juhaishi at OU Health Stephenson Center for a consultation.
“The doctor was straightforward,” Danny recalled. “He laid out the options: do nothing and have a year left, resume previous lymphoma treatments for two or three more years, or try this new treatment, which might either cure or be fatal.”
“I tell my patients, if I leave, if I walk out that room and you don’t feel hopeful, then I haven’t done my job right,” Dr. Al-Juhaishi said.
Danny believed this was his only shot at beating cancer, so he agreed to the somewhat newly approved treatment called CAR-T Therapy.
This kind of treatment is only offered at OU Health Stephenson Center.
Dr. Al-Juhaishi explained, “We collect cells outside the body and send them to the lab, where they introduce a new gene. This alteration enables the cells to target a specific protein on cancer cells, effectively killing them and eliminating the disease.”
Danny was ready to get on with it. “Let’s just get this done and get it out of the way and get back to the ranch,” Danny said.
Like with most treatments, there are side effects. There was even the possibility that Danny may not survive.
He also cautioned that short-term side effects could include Cytokine Release Syndrome, a condition characterized by an overstimulated immune system.
This led to multiple health issues and neurological problems for Danny.
“They made you write this little sentence, the national bird is the bald eagle,” Danny said. “You had to write that down twice a day. Then, that’s to check how your brain’s working out. Well, about the fourth day, it was about this long, little squiggly lines. Didn’t know much about the bald eagle. I didn’t know Joan. I didn’t know Doctor Al-Juhaishi.”
Even through his worst moments, Danny never lost his sense of humor.
“We were back in the hospital for a little while, sent home with a stripper pole so I could get some IV antibiotics here at the house, and she took care of me,” Danny said.
He was talking about his partner Joan, who stuck by his side through it all. With that support and belief, treatment would work; the side effects started to wane after about a month, and improvements were starting to be seen.
Then, months later, they received the results they were always hoping for.
“They’ve both shown remission, and I think he feels good, so we’re very happy for him,” Dr. Al-Juhaishi said.
Danny is now two months cancer-free and back to doing what he loves. Now, he has a different outlook on life.
“You’re never cured of cancer,” Danny said. “If you think they’re going to kill 20 billion cells and get every damn one of them out, not going to happen. Oh, remission absolutely can last a lifetime. Absolutely. So, then that’s how I had to look at it. And I think that’s how all cancer patients have to look at it.”
Dr. Al-Juhaishi says as of today, Danny doesn’t need any more CAR-T Therapy. They will continue to check in every few months to make sure he is doing OK.
