John Kanzius Remembered with Reverence, Anticipation - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

Today marks the four year anniversary since local inventor John Kanzius lost his battle with cancer.

Mark Neidig, the Executive Director of the foundation named in Kanzius' honor, says it is a day of both reverence and anticipation.

"We remember John's death with reverence," he told us, "but also anticipation that we're getting closer to a treatment."

Kanzius used hot dogs and his wife's pie pans to prove that directed radio waves could heat embedded particles of metal that could kill some cells while leaving others nearby untouched.

Combined with nano particles of elements like gold or carbon and a targeting agent that could direct those particles into specific cancer cells, the radio waves could one day be a means of reducing cancer without surgery.

"The day is going to come," Neidig said. "It's a sense of appreciation."