SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. -- A Florida man with no medical training has invented a machine that he believes may lead to a cure for cancer.

John Kanzius, who turns 63 on March 1, is a former broadcasting executive from Pennsylvania who wondered if his background in physics and radio could come in handy in treating the disease from which he suffers himself.

Inside his Sanibel Island garage, Kanzius invented a machine he believes sits on the brink of a major medical breakthrough.

The machine began to take shape four years ago, when his dreams of retirement were put on hold after he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, he told West Palm Beach television station WPBF.

Kanzius' invention is not flashy, and it looks like a piece of 20th-century hardware. It doesn't even have a name.

"It's a kick-ass cancer cell generator," Kanzius said.

After 24 rounds of chemotherapy, the former broadcaster decided that he did not want to see others suffer trying to cure the disease.

Kanzius said it was watching kids being treated that affected him the most.

"Particularly young children walk in with smiles, and then you'd see them three weeks later and their smiles had disappeared. I said to myself, 'We're in a barbaric type of medicine,'" Kanzius told WPBF.

He began tinkering with pie plates and hot dogs, trying to use his broadcasting background to kill the cancerous cells.

Kanzius said his machine basically makes cells act like antennae to pick up a signal and self-destruct.

Unlike current cancer treatment, Kanzius' machine does not use radiation. Unlike today's radio-frequency treatments, it's noninvasive.

Now, some of the nation's most prominent doctors and scientists are using Kanzius' machines in their research. In January, researchers said they performed a breakthrough at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

"The complete killing of pancreatic cells in laboratory conditions is encouraging," Dr. Steve Curley said.

Curley is currently testing whether cancerous tumors can be wiped out in animals.

"We've got a lot more work to do, but this is very interesting preliminary work," Curley told WPBF.

Kanzius explained that his machine uses a solution filled with nanoparticles, which measure no more than one-billionth of a meter. A test subject would be injected with either gold or carbon nanoparticles, which would make their way through the body and attach to the cancerous cells. The test subject would then enter the machine and receive a dose of radio frequency waves, theoretically heating and killing the cancerous cells in moments and leaving nearby cells untouched.

"That is the holy grail ... Research has shown that they're able to kill them once they attach to the cancer cells," Kanzius said.

Kanzius said he hopes to begin human testing with his machine within the next two years.

"The results look too phenomenal for anyone to stop at this point in time. I don't think the largest research center in the world would put time and effort and their name on a project if they did not think it would work," Kanzius told WPBF.

Kanzius told WPBF he does not want to try and build up false hope, but he mentioned that there could be some major announcements coming from researchers in the next coming months.