If you asked Jessica McMinn Tennant a year ago what an antineoplaston was, she would probably respond with 'a what?'

Now, when you ask her how to spell the mixture of amino acids a doctor in Texas uses to treat cancer, she can rattle off the letters in rapid fire.

"I never thought I would need to know that and what it meant," Ms. McMinn Tennant said.

The treatment marks a new hope for her and her 27-year-old husband, Brian, a former police officer, EMT and volunteer firefighter in Waynesburg.

When Mr. Tennant was diagnosed with a grade 3 glioma in March, he and his wife were left with a difficult decision in coming weeks: go to China for experimental treatment, or look elsewhere.

But days before Ms. McMinn Tennant was about to wire over a deposit for the previously planned trip to China, the Tennants learned about the antineoplaston treatment at the Burzynski Clinic in Houston.

Mr. Tennant had already been visiting Houston for radiation and chemotherapy treatment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In fact, during a recent follow-up visit, doctors told his tumor had not grown since his last treatment.

The Burzynski Clinic is run by a controversial doctor, Stanislaw Burzynski.

Some have called him a miracle worker while others have criticized his treatment.

Antineoplastons are strings of amino acids known as peptides that Dr. Burzynski mixes together to create a treatment for each patient.

Dr. Burzynski has run trials on antineoplastons for decades and has fought the FDA for nearly as long.

The drugs used in his private practice, as well as in the clinical trials, are not FDA approved, and the treatment is not covered by insurance.

Ms. McMinn Tennant estimates the treatment will cost close to, if not more than, $100,000 -- double the cost of treatment her husband would have received in Beijing.

"You can't really put a dollar amount on the value of your life," Ms. McMinn Tennant said.

The more than $50,000 that their community in Greene County has contributed over the past few months through fundraisers will help offset the expense of the new treatment.

In spite of the cost and controversy surrounding the clinic, the Tennants are confident in their decision, based on Dr. Burzynski's success rate.

"We just felt that it would be silly to go halfway around the world for three months if he could get treated at home and have a better chance," she said.

Mr. Tennant hopes to get started with the new treatment soon.

In the meantime, he's trying to cope with a reaction to steroids he's been taking to combat the side effects of other cancer medication. He has had to use an IV for dehydration.

"We still have good days and bad days," his wife said. "We stumble through most of them and it's not very graceful, but we survive somehow."

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