by Wendy Graber
Colton Goodman was just three years old when he was referred to Duke after an MRI showed a growth behind his right eye. At Duke, he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a life-threatening muscle tissue cancer that is most often seen in children.
His doctor, Lars Wagner, MD, recommended chemotherapy and proton beam radiation. Proton therapy is a more precise type of radiation that has fewer side effects than conventional radiation therapy. The only catch was that proton therapy was not available at Duke, nor was it available anywhere in North Carolina. Colton would have to travel out of state for proton care.
But thanks to a $50 million gift from an anonymous donor, children like Colton will soon be able to get proton therapy at Duke. The gift is the largest philanthropic gift ever received by Duke University Health System.
“This is a historic gift, both for Duke and for the state of North Carolina,” said Vincent E. Price, PhD, president of Duke University. “The Duke Proton Center will have a profound impact on cancer care in our region, and we are very grateful for the generous donor support that is making these advances possible.”
“What makes proton therapy so desirable as a treatment is our ability to precisely target the radiation and then escalate the dose in increments to more effectively control and eradicate tumors,” said Christopher Willett, MD, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. “As compared to standard X-ray radiation therapy, protons cause less damage to healthy tissue, less acute toxicity, and fewer follow-on complications. We want to reduce treatment side effects as much as possible to improve our patients’ quality of life and function. For brain tumor patients that means reducing toxicity that damages cognition and in breast cancer patients that means limiting damage to heart function.”
At capacity, Duke will be able to provide proton therapy to about 800 pediatric and adult patients each year. The facility is expected to open by 2029 with a total projected cost of $120 million. Read the full story at duke.is/ProtonTherapy.