FOUNDATION PROFILE: Cancer Care Centers Foundation

CANCER CARE CENTERS FOUNDATION LEADERS INCLUDE: Debbie Keller, David Wilfong, Evelyn Foster, Bill Orndorf, Marta Fiol, Vicky Floyd, Dawn Herring, Heidi Joyce, Christine Lighthill, Karen Osiniak, Karen Kirkland, Karen Petry, Leigh Pettigrew, Rita Soni, Gary Wynberg, Mick Welch, Mary Baldwin, Marcia Luhn, Darcia Jones-Francey, Jeanne Andre’, Patrick Anderson, Silas J. Charles, M.D., John Dhyanchard, Britta Newcomer, R.N., Carolyn J. Shott, Mickey Brimer, John Luhn and John Donohue, M.D.

Dr. Silas Charles

FOUNDED 1993 by Dr. Silas Charles, the Cancer Care Centers Foundation (CCCF) was established to assist the many people in the Brevard and Indian River County, Florida community who have been touched by cancer. As a non-profit organization that strives to provide comprehensive patient/family support services, community outreach and education, CCCF was recognized as the “Organization of the Year for 2004″ by Florida Today for their efforts in assisting cancer patients and the community in coping with cancer.

CCCF’s hope is, not only to assist the under insured or uninsured cancer patient, alleviating them of their financial burdens in order to allow them to focus on healing, but to provide education, so that cancer may be caught early or avoided all together. Through their financial counseling, support groups, educational programs and participation in medical research projects, the CCC Foundation’s sole focus is to help cancer patients and their families. A diagnosis of cancer changes lives forever and in many ways—for the patient as well as the caregiver.

Cancer Care Centers Foundation Goals
A diagnosis of cancer can change your life forever. It affects the entire body—mentally, physically and spiritually. At the Cancer Care Centers Foundation (CCCF), their goal  is to address all aspects of your care in order to heal all of you. But cancer does not only affect just you, it affects your family, your caregivers and all those around you. CCCF’s goal is to help each patient and those impacted by their diagnosis.

• Financial stress is a big obstacle at a time when one’s energy should be focused on healing and coping. The Foundation seeks to ease this burden by assisting the uninsured and under insured patient with transportation, rent/utility and medication. In addition to financial assistance, CCCF offers cancer survivors and caregivers several cancer support groups which the Foundation sponsors.
• Cancer Education: Another goal the CCCF strives to achieve is that of educating the public and private sectors about cancer. CCCF provides and participates in educational programs for both the general public and all manner of civic organizations and private groups—with the purpose of increasing awareness about cancer prevention, detection, cancer treatment, and other related aspects of health care trends and consumer opportunities.
• Assistance Efforts: Fostering and assisting in the coordination of cancer patients and family care provided by other non-profit and government agencies in order to encourage the optimal delivery of efficient, affordable care to all persons, regardless of their ability to pay, is another way in which the CCCF helps. Our professionals will help you coordinate various insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and supplementary financial assistance so that your main priority can be to focus on getting well and staying healthy! This includes informing you of available transportation assistance and programs that will make your recovery process easier.
• Medical Research: Through medical research projects and programs, the CCCF encourages the advancement of care and treatment procedures for cancer patients and their families. After all, looking after our patients and their families is our number one priority and the sole purpose for our existence.

For patient success stories, CLICK HERE.

All Volunteers Staff
The Cancer Care Centers Foundation (CCCF) is composed of all volunteers, with no paid staff. Although the CCCF receives some funding from fund raising events, the bulk of their resources comes from caring people who have experienced cancer either personally or through a loved one. Or you may be someone who simply feels that it is a worthy cause and understands that through your contribution, our community as a whole benefits.  If a poll were taken of the entire adult population of the United States, it would be difficult to find someone who did not know someone who had been touched by cancer.

In order for CCCF to continue offering patients, families and caregivers assistance in areas of finance, transportation, and support groups, we need your help. For community education programs and medical research projects to advance so that we may offer improved treatments and better technology, it is necessary to rely on your donations.

Making a Donation

All gifts to the Cancer Care Centers Foundation are tax deductible. If you would like to make a donation to the Cancer Care Centers Foundation, please call 321-952-0898, or you can donate on-line, Please CLICK HERE.

Cancer Care Center, based in Melbourne, Florida, is located 10 minutes from the Melbourne International Airport and is 45 minutes from the Orlando International Airport. For more information, call the CyberKnife® info line at 321-951-9991; or E-mail: info@cccfoundationinc.org

DR. CHARLES, and his sister Rhoda S. Eda, M.D.

CLICK HERE FOR RELATED STORY

Cancer Care Centers Foundation founder, Dr. Silas Charles, frequently goes on medical missions as his family continues to foster the Christian Cancer Centre, Hope Village and Leprosy Mission – which they founded in India.

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TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT

A new and innovative radiosurgery system designed to treat tumors anywhere in the body with sub-millimeter accuracy.

An 80-year-old woman with cancer in both lungs had no chance of having surgery because of her poor health and medical condition. Typically, this diagnosis meant she would have to endure about six weeks of radiation to treat the tumors in her lungs, possibly worsening her condition and drastically changing her quality of life.

But the physicians at the Cancer Care Centers of Brevard (Florida) offered her an alternative – CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery, a revolutionary non-invasive procedure that delivers concentrated beams of radiation to targeted areas. “We recommended that she be treated with hypo-fractionated radiation treatment to both lung tumors simultaneously,” explained Dr. Ravi A. Shankar, a radiation oncologist with training in stereotactic radiotherapy and radiosurgery. He has been using the CyberKnife system since June.

The woman consented to the treatment, which was administered over a period of just three days. The results: “She is now three months post-treatment and recent radiological investigations show good response to the treatment,” Shankar said. “Plus, from a quality of life standpoint, the patient is able to get along with no changes to her previous lifestyle.”

Always at the forefront of innovative treatments and technologies when it comes to treating cancer, Cancer Care Centers of Brevard is accustomed to providing patients with top-notch, excellent care. But with the addition of the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System, the center now offers patients a targeted, painless alternative to surgery and opens up a treatment option for those whose tumors and lesions were diagnosed as “inoperable” or otherwise untreatable.

The system treats tumors and lesions on the skull, head, neck, lungs, pancreas, prostate, spine, kidney and liver as well as melanomas. “I think this is a great technology,” said Radiation Oncologist Todd V. Panarese, M.D. “With the CyberKnife, we can certainly treat more tumors in areas that were either not possible before or that we went into with great trepidation because of their location,” he said.

Dr. Silas Charles

Silas J. Charles, MD, founder of the Cancer Care Centers of Brevard was the mastermind in bringing the CyberKnife to Brevard and Indian River Counties, Florida.  The CyberKnife radiosurgery system was created by industry leader Accuray, Inc. and is approved by the FDA.

• Physicians on staff are highly trained in CyberKnife operations and the center treats patients in a state-of-the-art CyberKnife suite.
• During the treatment setup, patients undergo a pre-treatment CT scan and/or MRI to gather information on the size, shape and location of the tumor or lesion. Physicians then work with the surgeon to determine the correct dosage of radiation and where on the body the radiosurgery should be performed.
• The information is uploaded into the CyberKnife’s computer software, which then locates the position of the tumor within the body through the use of image guidance cameras similar to those used for cruise missile guidance.
• The CyberKnife then uses a miniature linear accelerator mounted on a robotic arm to deliver concentrated beams of radiation to the targeted tumor. The dose of radiation is high enough to control or kill the tumor cells while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue.
• The system is highly accurate, down to a sub-millimeter, which is perfect for achieving surgical-like outcomes for lesions of the brain and spine. Because it is non-invasive – with no pain, blood loss or sedation during treatment – it has significantly fewer complications than traditional open surgery.

Plus, the CyberKnife system considerably shortens the duration of radiation treatment, Shankar said. “Even though we have no long-term data, we see that the side effects from this form of treatment are considerably of shorter duration. There is less recovery time so that patients tend to get back to their normal lifestyles quicker,” he said. “They are also happy that the radiation treatment is not such a prolonged course as it normally is with the standard forms of radiation treatment,” he added.

CYBERKNIFE’S computer software locates the position of the tumor within the body through the use of image guidance cameras similar to those used for cruise missile guidance.

Two added features to the CyberKnife system are its Synchrony Software and Xsight Lung Tracking System. Synchrony uses a complex system of cameras, motion-tracking software, fiber-optic sensing technology and infrared emitters to accurately deliver radiosurgery to soft-tissue tumors, such as lung, pancreas, kidney, and liver lesions. The Xsight Lung Tracking System uses sophisticated image processing and registration techniques to directly lock onto and track tumors throughout the treatment.

Panarese said the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System gives the Cancer Care Centers of Brevard a “new tool in our arsenal to treat cancer.”  Patients’ responses to the radiosurgery system have been overwhelmingly positive, he said. “I’m finding that patients are now requesting more information on the CyberKnife in anticipation of receiving treatment with it,” he said.

Shankar added that patients are informed beforehand that the CyberKnife treatment is a relatively new technique with no long-term data. “However, the short-term results from various centers show that it is equivalent to the standard forms of radiation treatment,” he said.

“With more and more people undergoing this form of treatment and the data continuing to be good, this may become the standard form of treatment for many cancers.”

The CyberKnife is located at the Cancer Care Center, 1430 South Pine Street in Melbourne, Florida.  For more information, please call  Mary Markisen at 321-951-9959 or log on to CancerCareBrevard.com

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