From May 16
Today I attended the St. Jude Auxiliary meeting where Dr. Merchant came to share about the new proton machine that is being built at St. Jude. Usually I am completely turned off by scientific topics. However, the impressive facts combined with its life-saving purpose had my attention from the beginning. Basically, this 3 story machine will provide more precise radiation treatment to patients. Rather than treating a broad area that includes healthy tissue with the cancer cells, the proton machine will specifically target the tumor. The positive implications from this will significantly lessen some of the side effects for patients. The amount of energy that it takes to execute this type of treatment is so much that the part of the building where the machine will be will be surrounded by 10-ft thick concrete walls. The accuracy, though, is within tenths of a millimeter. While everyday is eventful at St. Jude this was particularly exciting for me. To hear the statistics and see the plans for this new life-saving treatment center reminded me why there are several thousand people on the St. Jude campus everyday: "Finding Cures. Saving Lives." Patients and their families are blessed to have such an amazing place to come to for treatment and I have been blessed to make a small contribution. Even more so, I am excited that I heard the inside scoop on the massive hole in the ground that I drive past every day. One of my favorite things about this hospital is that there is always progress. There has been a 90% increase in the survival rates of some cancers, but until it's 100% for all of the catastrophic diseases treated at St. Jude, the work at will never stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment