Jim Fair Photo
Marilu Henner and her husband, Michael Brown, examine a part that helps define a cancer to be treated.
Jim Fair Photo
The expanded Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute is scheduled to be completed in Spring 2020.
Dr. James Bearden, noted oncologist with Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System and the Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute, waited patiently Saturday afternoon to join the first tour of the expanded $65 million state-of-the-art facility with a 198,000 square-foot complex at Pelham Medical Center.
Bearden was there to enjoy the first tour of the expanded cancer center with a select group of physicians and specialists who are among a core group that already has the state and region aware of the dynamics of diagnosis, treatment, surgery and recovery.
Marilu Henner, actress (“Taxi”, “Johnny Dangerously”), was the special guest for this year's Spartanburg Regional Foundation Gala Saturday night. She also toured the facility that is dedicated to bring the best science and research together with a strong focus on genetics, according to Dr. Timothy Yeatman, Director of the Cancer Center and Research Institute.
Bearden said “the seven-story building is conducive to teamwork with the best minds in medicine to care for our patients. Everything is under one roof.”
Henner and guests were in awe of the CyberKnife M6, a technical marvel, the only one of its kind in the state that can pinpoint cancers and shrink them without surgery.
The Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute expansion is scheduled to open in Spring 2020.
Here’s what others said during the tour.
• “No surgeries, no pain. We are the only ones in South Carolina to have the latest edition of the CyberKnife.” John Dargan, Senior Director of Philanthropy for the Spartanburg Regional Foundation
• “Everything is in one building from chemo and radiation to rehab. The patient doesn’t have to go anywhere else. Clinical trials, the pharmacy, and research labs are here.” Dania Beck, Director of Philanthropy for the Spartanburg Regional Foundation
• “The CyberKnife allows us to treat everything in the body over a short treatment course. We didn’t know what diseases we would treat with it, but we use it a lot more for brain tumors and have expanded into benign. We treat prostate cancers on it, and we didn’t anticipate treating a lot on it. It’s the second most common disease that we treat on the CyberKnife. It’s a five-treatment course instead of forty-four.” Dr. Daniel B. Fried, Medical Director and Radiation Oncologist at Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute
• “We call it, ‘Integrative Medicine.’ We have an oncology rehab gym where we teach patients how to get range of motion back. If you have had a neck dissection from head and neck cancer, there is a speech and language pathologist on the floor above us.” Michael Starnes, Director Radiation Oncology & Oncology Clinical Performance