Daniel Apodaca Image credit: CNN

“About a week later they gave me a call and mentioned the word ‘cancer’ to me. For a long time, I was depressed and then, I guess you accept it and try to make the most out of the time you have now.’

That is not something you expect to hear from a 24 year old. But for Daniel Apodaca that became, very suddenly, his reality. He was diagnosed with a rare, soft tissue cancer called epithelioid sarcoma. Fortunately for Daniel help was at hand, and a lot closer than he could ever have possibly anticipated.

Daniel is a student at UCLA. CIRM is funding a clinical trial run by UCLA’s Dr. Antoni Ribas that targets the same cancer Daniel is battling. The therapy re-programs a person’s own immune system to help fight the disease.

Daniel became patient #1 in that trial.

CNN reporter Rachel Crane profiled Dr. Ribas and the treatment he hopes will save Daniel’s life.