Cancer Centers Of America - Cancer Centers of America with a Caring Approach

Hearing the news that either you or a loved one has cancer is a difficult moment in life. Richard J. Stephenson knows just what that feels like, because his beloved mother, Mary Brown Stephenson, was diagnosed some 30 years ago. When he and his family could not find the kind of care they felt was best for Mary, they watched helplessly as she grew sicker and eventually died. Richard founded one of the premier cancer centers of America, CTCA (The Cancer Treatment Center of America) in memory of his mother. Started in the early 1980s, CTCA gives an approach to the treatment of cancer known as the “whole person cancer treatment.” Their idea is to provide not only patients with all the necessary, up-to-date medical technology available in the destruction of cancer, but to offer the type of service they would give to their own loved ones. It is a whole-body approach of warmth, unconditional support, and respect. By combining the latest radiation therapies, pharmaceutical treatments, surgical skills with nutrition, spiritual support, and mind-body medicine, CTCA is succeeding in ending the struggles with cancer care. Unlike many cancer centers of America, CTCA offers Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) with Novac 7. This process allows patients to receive radiation treatments while they are still in surgery. The advantages of this are fewer side effects and less need to return for more treatments if at all. CTCA locations are in Zion, Illinois; Philadelphia; Pennsylvania; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Goodyear, Arizona. You can subscribe to their monthly newsletter by visiting their website.

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas has been ranked number 1 of all the cancer centers of America in the treatment of cancer. Larry Kwak, M.D., Ph.D. is a physician on staff and has been named to Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world for his study and development of the science of cancer vaccines. This is inline with M.D. Anderson’s mission to eliminate cancer globally through excellence in the care of people, research, and accountability to treat the whole person and not just the illness. There are many locations throughout Texas as well as one in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a new facility in Phoenix, Arizona in 2011. There is an international location in Istanbul, Turkey.

Other cancer centers of America to consider are Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. Fox Chase uses a coordinated approach by developing a team of experts to work together to heal patients. Their specialists are renowned in the area of cancer that is specific to the patient. Fox Chase received the prestigious Magnet status, an award for nursing excellence given by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Founded in 1884 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (SKI) is the oldest and largest private cancer center in the world. SKI has a network of facilities throughout the region including Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester County. SKI is famous for its biomedical research and offers a Ph.D. program in cancer biology.