Cancer challenge met

Dolph Briscoe Jr. and Janie Briscoe Marmion gave a challenge gift of $1.2 million in memory of the governor’s granddaughter and Janey and Jim Marmion’s daugh­ter, Kate.

From there, the campaign never looked back, scooping up donations large and small from individuals, businesses and charitable foundations.

The impetus for the cam­paign has come from the simple fact that virtually no family in our region has escaped the jarring impact of cancer. Young and old alike have suffered from the dis­ease and in many cases the treatment for their illness has required a difficult and sometimes painful trip to San Antonio.

The Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center, which is expected to be completed on four acres adjacent to Uvalde Memo­rial Hospital by the spring of 2011, will put an end to those arduous trips. Patients from a nine-county area will be able to come to Uvalde for radiation therapy.

The new space will also allow the hospital to increase its chemotherapy infusion services by adding four new stations to the six cur­rently in use. Also, the facil­ity will provide additional medical office space, which is expected to assist in the recruitment of primary and secondary physicians.

“Yes, it’s more jobs, it’s more services available locally and it is less time away from home for patients and their families,” said hospital chief executive officer Jim Buckner. “It lets them (patients) have more time to meet their needs and not be on the road traveling out of our region to access care. It’s what we want as a community, to grow our services as a community and to be more self-sufficient.”

Congratulations to all who played a role in the effort to fund this invaluable new facility. It truly will save (and improve) lives close to home.