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Surviving skin cancer: Louisiana man who was told he was terminal thanks doctors, God

"I just, I didn't believe it. It was a miracle," said Tommy Butler, as he wiped tears from his eyes.

NEW ORLEANS - A north Louisiana man was told he was out of options for treatment for melanoma, then local doctors tried a new treatment.

"I just, I didn't believe it. It was a miracle," said Tommy Butler, as he wiped tears from his eyes.

Imagine thinking you had a bad cold, but then one day you're told it's a terminal illness.

That's what happened to Butler, until he was told to travel to New Orleans for a new treatment early last year.

Butler worked the land outdoors since he was a teen, at his home in Mer Rouge, about 40 minutes from Monroe. He farms hardwood trees, but after 50 years out in the sun, something was not right.

"I got to just coughing, and I didn't feel bad but I couldn't quit coughing," he remembers.

At first, Butler was treated for a respiratory infection, but later, a scan proved otherwise.

When asked what he thought when he was told he had melanoma, he responded, "I didn't know nothing about it, and wasn't real worried about it."

Butler had skin cancer, 20 years before, removed from his lip, and his temple, followed by radiation. But this time, it was different.

"They just told me that I better get my stuff in order, you know," Butler said, remembering all the emotion of being told he had a terminal illness.

"Until very recently, melanoma that had already metastasized, was considered an incurable disease, and one that you were unlikely to survive past one year, "explained Dr. Zoe Larned, Chair of Hematology-Oncology at Ochsner Medical System.

Melanoma is aggressive, and had spread to Butler's lungs and abdomen. When a friend recommended he seek treatment at Ochsner, he was so weak, he could barely walk, and was nearly 100 pounds lighter. He was also at risk because of several other health problems of the heart, high blood pressure, diabetes and the auto immune disease rheumatoid arthritis. The head of Ochsner Hematology/Oncology, Dr. Zoe Larned, gave him hope with immunotherapy, a drug more recently approved that allows immune cells to go around melanoma's barrier and kill them.

"By the time we did his first scans about three months in, we were already seeing significant response, but he was clinically doing so well. And by the time he was four to six months in, he had no evidence of disease on scans," said Dr. Larned. "Cancer, with some of these new therapies that are out now, it's giving us this gift of time."

Butler says he'll never forget the visit and words of encouragement by the late Dr. John Ochsner. Today he feels like himself again, celebrating life with his combined 16 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

"So far it's been a miracle. I don't know if it was what they done, what I done or what He done," Butler said through tears referring to the doctors, himself and God.

The infusion treatments need to be given once a month and will continue indefinitely. Doctors say the cancer will be managed like a chronic illness.

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