Ann and Alan Gaines of Nevada City, like many other seniors, had hoped to retire and enjoy life to the fullest in their golden years.

But their world turned upside down when Alan was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 77.

- It all began back on the 4th of July- which was a Saturday, by the way, as well as a holiday- and I woke up and I felt a mass right here that I had never felt before.

They said it was a B-cell Lymphoma, which is Non-Hodgkin's.

That oncologist said, "You need to go to UC Davis and talk to Dr. Joe Tuscano and he... he'll know what to do."

- So, it's a type of malignancy that affects the white blood cells, but it's a type of lymphoma that's very, very aggressive and very deadly.

- I did have to go through three completely different cycles during chemotherapy over there in the hospital, and they came and checked me out, said, "Nope, this hasn't done the trick."

- Mr. Gaines had, uh, tried several types of chemotherapy that did not work, and then he was referred for CAR T-cell Therapy.

- Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy, known as CAR T-cell Therapy, is a procedure that transforms a patient's own white blood cells into lean, mean cancer-fighting cells.

It all takes place in the gene manufacturing lab at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures' Good Manufacturing Practice Facility.

This is one of just a few medical centers in California and the only University of California campus that makes CAR T-cells on-site.

To understand how this revolutionary therapy works, we need to start with T-cells, or white blood cells that patrol our bodies for signs of disease.

- The T-cells in our body are the cancer-fighting white blood cells.

They're removing cancer from our body, all our lives.

It's called Immune Surveillance.

- The immune system detects cancer cells in the body by looking for proteins known as Antigens on their surfaces that are not found on normal, non-cancerous cells.

CAR T-cells are genetically modified to produce their own unique receptors, which specifically bind to cancer cell antigens, triggering an attack and destroy mission.

- One of the ways that we, um- that... that cancer develops is by, um, um, tricking the body into thinking that the cancer cells are normal.

- Different cancers have different antigens, and if T-cells don't have the right receptors targeting the antigen and cancer cells, they are not alerted to the risk, allowing cancer cells to grow unnoticed.

- We can take those T-cells out of the body and put a new receptor, and that's the Chimeric Antigen Receptor, in there, um, using genetic manipulation.

- T-cells extracted from a patient's blood are delivered to the Good Manufacturing Practice Facility to be altered using a modified virus.

- We use that viral vector to put the new receptor onto the... onto the surface of the T-cells.

They'll be grown for two weeks in a very specialized machine.

- This transforms them into CAR T-cells, which are grown and multiplied into the millions required for the therapy.

- When those T-cells are grown up and expanded and go back to the hospital for the patient and are reinfused in the clinic, they will go throughout the patient's body and seek and destroy that cancer.

- Dr. Tuscano brought up the idea of being a part of a clinical trial, which I had no concept of, and- but he described it to me, how it would work, and it sounded pretty effective.

And so, I...

I said, "Yes, I'd be happy to do it."

- With that, Gaines became a pioneering patient by receiving the first CAR T-cells genetically manufactured on-site at UC Davis Health in Sacramento.

- I've been doing this for 25 years, and, uh, to see somebody that was facing certain death, um, now in remission, enjoying himself- I just got a... a great picture of him, uh, hiking, um, on vacation.

So, it's... it's quite remarkable.

To this day, he remains in remission.

- I'm really optimistic about where we're going.

I'm feeling good.

I've had no bad side effects from this treatment, and, uh, we don't pass up many opportunities to get out and hike.

We have a little trailer that we pull and go... go camping and just really enjoy it, and we look forward to more of it.

- I think it's important to understand that all of this takes an enormous team of doctors and scientists and researchers and the CEO of the hospital.

It's an enormous team that has come together, um, to benefit patients with devastating diseases.

And if this team hadn't come together, um, Mr. Gaines may not be alive.

- Dr. David Lubarsky, CEO of UC Davis Health, who is credited with establishing the Good Manufacturing Practice Facility, says growing CAR T-cells on-site means they can be injected without freezing them first.

That means the cost for the treatment is perhaps 20% of what it costs elsewhere.

- If we can make it more robust, more effective and more cost effective, uh, it may replace chemotherapy.

But more importantly, the idea that we can really cure cancers with this therapy, um, and really think about winning the war against cancer, uh, through a broader application of this therapy is really, truly exciting.

No one ever wants to lose a loved one again to cancer.

That's a goal we should all be shooting for.

- This Digital Short is supported by UC Davis Health, home to the number one ranked medical center in Sacramento by U.S. News and World Report.

Learn more about their doctors and passion for advancing health at health.ucdavis.edu.