TAMPA — Battling cancer can take a nasty toll on the body, especially when it comes to chemotherapy or similar treatments.

Steve Cleveland knows it all too well. He has battled cancer for years.

Cleveland is dealing with stage 4 cancer, but it’s in remission. He is beyond thankful for the time he has had with his family and doesn’t waste a minute of each day.

“The brain says I am 21, but the body says, ‘No, you are a little older.’ I feel good,” he said.

Cleveland is extremely active and continues to work. He helps train former inmates to become carpenters or forklift operators. He loves to give back to his community.

His history with cancer is hard to believe. He was initially diagnosed with prostate cancer – he had his prostate removed – but the cancer spread, and at one point the doctors found a tumor in his back and gave him less than a year to live.

However, Cleveland said that he wanted to fight and went to Moffitt Cancer Center, where he qualified for a new study approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It’s been three years on this trial and his cancer hasn’t grown. In fact, his tumor has disappeared.

“I feel very lucky, I feel blessed. I mean, again, I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my kids and my family and watch my grandkids grow,” he said.

Dr. Daniel Abate-Daga works at the cancer center and, with technology ever-changing, is finding new ways to battle cancers like Cleveland’s.

His research is focused on the development of T-Cell based immunotherapies. T-Cells are a type of white blood cells that help the immune system fight germs and protect from disease.

Abate-Daga is taking those cells to create Car T-Cell therapies. The cells are taken from a patient’s blood and changed in a lab by adding a gene for a receptor to attach to specific cancer cells – those are then put back into the patient.

It’s still in the testing phase, but Abate-Daga says the results have been positive, showing tumors shrinking in lab tests. 

“I find it intellectually stimulating and also rewarding to help other people – that the result of our work may have a positive impact in the lives of many people,” he said.