Cowboys' Jones: Experimental drug saved my life

OXNARD, Calif. -- Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that he has dealt with Stage 4 melanoma and that an experimental trial drug saved his life.

In the fifth episode of the Netflix documentary "America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys" that debuts next week, Jones, 82, talked about undergoing cancer treatments at MD Anderson in Houston. However, he didn't reveal details of the treatment and what it was for.

"I was saved by a fabulous treatment and great doctors and a real miracle [drug] called PD-1 [therapy]," Jones told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. "I went into trials for that PD-1, and it has been one of the great medicines. I now have no tumors."

Jones told the paper he was diagnosed in June 2010 and began treatment soon thereafter. Over the next 10 years, he said, he had two lung surgeries and two lymph node surgeries. Stage 4 melanoma refers to skin cancer that has metastasized to other parts of the body.

According to the American Cancer Society, PD-1 therapy -- or programmed cell death-1 -- helps "the immune system recognize, and attack cancer cells."

"You don't like to think about your mortality, but I was so fortunate to have some great people that sent me in the right direction," Jones said after Wednesday's practice. "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 be getting to do what we do. ... But [mortality] was in the back of your mind."

A Stage 4 melanoma diagnosis used to almost always be fatal and treatment aimed merely to slow the disease, control symptoms and possibly extend survival. But recent medical advancements -- including immunotherapies and targeted checkpoint inhibitors that help the body's T-cells fight off the cancer -- have given hope that the disease might be brought under control for years.

Advanced cases can have a five-year survival rate of about 50%, with some even longer and some having no signs of the cancer after treatment.

MD Anderson is world-renowned for cancer treatment and clinical trials.

"It just [teaches] you a lot about your health, how important it is and it doesn't discriminate against anybody," said Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer, who on Wednesday also revealed his battle with thyroid cancer when he was 28 and coaching the Chargers.

Schottenheimer's 2002 diagnosis was made during training camp and, within 72 hours, he was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for surgery to remove his thyroid and 17 lymph nodes.

"Mine was certainly less serious. ... Nothing like Stage 4, nothing like what Jerry and other people have to go through," Schottenheimer said. "But you hear that word 'cancer,' and it scares the hell out of you."

The surgery, which then-Commanders owner Daniel Snyder helped arrange, went well, although there is a scar on Schottenheimer's neck that serves as a daily reminder.

"I'm glad that Jerry shared it because I think it gives people hope," Schottenheimer said. "It gives people the strength to say, 'OK, you can beat this. You can do that.' And when you have that type of diagnosis, to have that hope and that ability to think, 'I can fight through this and maybe I can catch a break and get lucky,' that's great."

The PD-1 therapy treatment came to light after Jones was told that meditation would serve him well and to list 10 people who "boil your blood" and wish them well. Jones wrote down the name of his former head coach, Jimmy Johnson, first.

While visiting the doctor not long after, he was asked how the meditation was helping, he said with a slight smile, "I can't get past that first mother ..."

The Netflix series documents Jones' purchase of the Cowboys, the firing of Tom Landry, the hiring of Johnson and the rise of the 1990s Cowboys, while weaving in Jones' life story.

ABC News contributed to this report.