Jerry Jones reveals cancer diagnosis in Netflix docuseries

DALLAS - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he was previously diagnosed and overcame Stage 4 cancer thanks to an experimental drug, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

Jerry Jones Cancer Diagnosis

What we know:

Jones told a Morning News reporter that the experimental therapy saved his life.

According to the report, he fought Stage 4 melanoma for a decade.

The 82-year-old said he was diagnosed in June 2010 and began treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

He said over the next decade, he had two lung surgeries and two lymph node surgeries.

He underwent trials for the therapy called Programmed Cell Death Protein 1, or PD-1. And now he has no tumors.

All this came to light after the Morning News reporter saw the new Dallas Cowboys docuseries on Netflix. In it, Jones briefly mentioned undergoing cancer treatment in an episode. That reporter then followed up with week to get the rest of his story.

What they're saying:

In an interview with reporters at Cowboys training camp on Wednesday, Jones talked more about the diagnosis and how he stayed positive throughout his treatments.

"Of course, millions of people are dealing with setbacks every day. You've got to keep that in mind," he said. "There's no question from my point of view, the great life that I get to have believe it or not being around you guys, being around this team, being around the NFL, being around sports, that for me if you need to be around a positive attitude when you're trying to deal with something like that I've been around it. So I've been blessed as I dealt with that cancer, I've been blessed to get to be a part of the NFL. I got a lot, as you know, to keep your mind going forward."

Jones said he was fortunate to have a great team of doctors that sent him in the right direction.

"I got to be a part of a trial that was propitious. It really worked. It's called PD-1 and it really, really, really worked. It ate my hips up. I had to have both hips replaced because it was rough on your bones. But other than that, I'm so proud to get to be sitting here with you guys and to be getting to do what we do," he said.

Jones said his cancer battle helped him understand that when talking about pressure and challenges on the field, millions of other people are dealing with their own more significant pressures and challenges.

"We all have pressure. Let us all be thankful we're here to get to deal with them," he said.

Stage 4 Melanoma

Big picture view:

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that's becoming more and more common.

Earlier this month, North Texas native Kelly Clarkson's ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, died at the age of 48 after battling melanoma for three years.

According to the American Cancer Society, Stage 4 melanoma has a five-year survival rate of just 35%. But recent studies suggest new treatments are increasing the survival rate.

"We've gotten so much better with how we manage these patients. This class of drugs that he was taking, these PD-1 drugs, help activate T cells that have been sort of quiescent. And they get them where you can fight these tumors much more effectively. We see patients now with Stage 3 and Stage 4 disease living longer and surviving their disease. And it's really a phenomenal class of that he was on and that's helped him, said Dr. Walton Taylor, a Texas Health Dallas surgeon who specializes in melanoma.

Dr. Taylor didn't treat Jones but talked about his case and others like it.

"Oftentimes, we'll go in and exercise tumors and then remove some lymph nodes. We call them sentinel lymph nodes, the ones where the tumor would drain to first to see if there's cancer in them. And if we find there's a substantial amount of disease, we go back and remove all of the lymph nodes in that area," he said.

Dr. Daniel Wang, an oncologist at UT Southwestern, said immunotherapy like PD-1 has become a game-changer in how doctors are able to successfully treat aggressive cancers like Stage 4 melanoma.

"With these discoveries and melanoma being the poster child for immunotherapy, we've discovered how well they work in these settings. And now it's considered the standard care for patients with Stage 4 melanoma," he said.

Both doctor said it's important for people to visit a dermatologist yearly to get a full body mole check. They said early detection of skin cancer can make all the difference in the treatment options available.