A Place of Hope

Narrated by Bob Schieffer
Time: 09:08

Bob Schieffer:
It has often proved true that the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. Hello, I'm Bob Schieffer. When Robert Goddard, one of the fathers of modern rocketry, spoke those words a century ago, the idea of rocket flight seemed as impossible as the future free of cancer. Goddard himself succumbed to cancer in 1945. But it was around that same time that the potential to realize the dream of a world free of cancer took root, when the Texas Legislature established a hospital in Houston devoted exclusively to cancer research and patient care. With the stroke of a pen, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center was born, giving hope to cancer patients everywhere and laying the foundation for tomorrow's reality.

Pioneering research followed, increasing our knowledge of cancer's origin, how it spreads, and how best to diagnose, treat and even prevent it.

In recent years, an explosion of genetic and molecular information has further revolutionized cancer detection, treatment, and prevention. M. D. Anderson researchers have an unmatched ability to translate their findings into novel tests and therapies, often tailored to specific genetic and molecular abnormalities in each individual patient's cancer.

At M. D. Anderson, patients receive care from multidisciplinary teams of experts who specialize not only in cancer, but often in specific forms of cancer. Surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, and many others all identify and treat forms of cancer every day that generalists may rarely see. The team addresses the many facets that make us human. Individualized treatment from individuals who care.

Dr. Mendelsohn:
I am always told by patients when I chat with them, 'I came here expecting a downer, because cancer is a terrible disease, and I find that I'm at a place of hope. People care about each other here, and they generate hope, and I know that I'm in the hands of experts that are going to do everything possible in my behalf to take care of me and my family.'

Bob Schieffer:
Always with an eye to the future, M. D. Anderson trains the next generation of cancer specialists through education programs that are second to none.

More than 4,000 trainees a year come to M. D. Anderson. They earn degrees in highly specialized allied health professions or pursue graduate study in many cancer-related sciences. Clinical residencies and fellowships, and visiting scholar opportunities are available, as well as science programs for high school, college, nursing and medical students.

M. D. Anderson leads the way in cancer prevention research. Prevention strategies may include risk reduction, such as tobacco cessation, healthy lifestyle changes, or chemoprevention. M. D. Anderson offers a full spectrum of cancer screenings, plus diagnostic testing for patients at risk of cancer who have not yet been diagnosed. And research is under way to discover screening tests for cancers which currently have no such diagnostic tools, such as ovarian and lung cancer.

With improved screening, early diagnosis and better treatments, more people are surviving cancer. Survivorship is an emerging field and at M. D. Anderson, helping patients survive cancer is an important part of the spectrum of cancer care. Survivorship begins at the time of diagnosis. Treatments are selected with the future in mind, and the goal is to return patients to the best quality of life after cancer.

Mack was 25 years old with a newborn son when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Mack:
I'm very fortunate to have been one of the first ones to come down here when this was a little bitty place, and I've seen it grow into a world-class facility now.

Bob Schieffer:
Mack also received treatment at M. D. Anderson for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and he recently had a skin cancer removed. As a 50-year survivor of three cancers, Mack often refers others to M. D. Anderson including his wife, Ashley.

Mack:
If you've got breast cancer, or you've got prostate cancer something like that I'd say, if you'd rather somebody operate on you that does 10, 15, 20 operations a week, or would you rather have somebody that does one or two a month? You're going down to a place where that's all they do. I can't tell you how many people I've sent down here that were almost hopeless that came away alive and well.

Bob Schieffer:
Like Mack, many people come to M. D. Anderson seeking hope. In order to meet increasing demand for its specialized services, M. D. Anderson is expanding in all areas of its mission to eliminate cancer.

The new Lowry and Peggy Mays Clinic is an outpatient facility designed with the patient's experience in mind. With state-of-the-art equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the Mays Clinic symbolizes M. D. Anderson's reputation for leading edge research and world-class patient care.

Dr. Mendelsohn:
There are 16,000 people that work here and they share one mission, to eliminate cancer, and this spills over into the clinical care, into the research, into the quality of the environment that our patients see every day when they come here.

Bob Schieffer:
It is no wonder that M. D. Anderson is consistently recognized as one of the top cancer centers in the nation and why patients come from all over the world to receive the latest cancer treatments.

The opening of the Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer on M. D. Anderson's South Campus expands the range of research conducted. Each of the McCombs Institute centers focuses on a different area of cancer research deemed by faculty leaders to hold the greatest promise for the future. The McCombs Institute represents the greatest single expansion of research in M. D. Anderson's history and positions Houston as a major center for biotechnology.

A cornerstone of the world's largest medical center, M. D. Anderson combines expertise with a collaborative spirit.

Dr. Mendelsohn:
Each of us is driven by a common goal of investigation that can result in quality research-based personalized care.

Bob Schieffer:
Generous philanthropic support is the catalyst that allows M. D. Anderson's accomplishments to continue to grow in number and impact.

Dr. Mendelsohn:
I think people understand what we're trying to do, and as they have been in the case of the McCombs Institute, they'll be willing to give for these causes, because we're going to deliver results.

Bob Schieffer:
And those results create the reality of tomorrow that Goddard alluded to all those years ago. Spacecraft now routinely explore worlds beyond ours. Today, M. D. Anderson embodies the hope that our next frontier, eliminating cancer, is not too far behind.