A breaking ground facility

Under a white tent in the parking lot of the N.C. Neurosciences Hospital, hundreds of policymakers, academics and doctors gathered Wednesday in celebration.

Hidden among this suit-and-tie crowd at the N.C. Cancer Hospital groundbreaking ceremony, 3-year-old Reece Holbrook weaved in and out of doctors' white coattails and chairs.

Holbrook, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia last September, seemed undeterred in a maze of unknowns.

One of many cancer patients who visit UNC Hospitals each day, Holbrook is recovering.

"I just think he thinks everyone goes through this stuff, and you just have to deal with it," Jennifer Holbrook said of her son. "He's definitely made us stronger people."

With the abundant resources the new cancer hospital likely will attract, officials are expecting many more success stories.

The N.C. General Assembly in August 2004 approved $180 million in funding that will be used to support the construction of the hospital, which tentatively will be completed in late 2009.

The UNC Health Care System already is leading the way in cancer research with its Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center - where its faculty holds $110 million in extramural grant funding.

While research is sure to flourish, the new hospital will be rooted in patient care and will be the clinical home for the cancer center.

"We must keep in mind that within these facilities that we create are the real life, daily struggles of our loved ones," said Bill Roper, CEO of UNC Health Care.

The number of patients that visit UNC for cancer treatment has increased 35 percent in the last six years and likely will double in the next 30 years.

One of the hospital's key political advocates, Sen. Jeanne Lucas, D-Durham, was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago.

During the ceremony, she said she has received superb treatment at UNC.

But Lucas said the current facility for cancer treatment, which was built in the 1950s as a tuberculosis sanatorium, is cramped and does not match the high level of care.

"It was my joy, my delight to advocate for the citizens of North Carolina this facility," Lucas said of the push for funding in the General Assembly. "We're going to turn this soil for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond."

Andrew von Eschenbach, director of the National Cancer Institute and a three-time cancer survivor, delivered the keynote address.

"You are the reason we break the ground," von Eschenbach said to the younger Holbrook during his address.

"I see (the hospital) from the perspective of that one American every minute - is dying of cancer. And as you pour this foundation, from my perspective, I see you creating hope."

Afterward, von Eschenbach took up a shovel with the other speakers and Reece Holbrook. And once camera flashes ceased and the adults left the hot sun for shade, there stood the 3-year-old with his yellow hard hat and shovel, digging up the ground.

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.