To many of the people who contributed to the construction of the Duke Cancer Center, their return on investment has already been paid in full.
Prostate cancer survivor Walter Wilkinson said Duke’s compassionate and first-class medical staff helped give him his life back. As a patient, he realized the importance of treating patients but also of making them comfortable, which is why when he heard about the plans for the patient-centric Duke Cancer Center he immediately decided to pay it forward.
“You have to be proud of this building where a lot of stuff in here is made to make people feel comfortable,” Wilkinson said. “The money I [donated] here helped pay for this, and I’m glad they used it to make it for the people.”
Donors like Wilkinson were thanked in a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, which featured Gov. Bev Perdue, President Richard Brodhead, Dr. Michael Kastan, executive director of the Duke Cancer Institute and breast cancer survivor Claire Weinberg, who is also a member of the Duke Cancer Patient Support Advisory Council. They were joined by members of the medical community in cutting the purple ribbon wrapped around the atrium’s main staircase.
Kastan said in an interview Feb. 16 that the Duke Cancer Center is modeled after other free-standing cancer institutes but that Duke is the first medical center to take its vision of interdisciplinary care and place it in one physical structure.
“[Duke] is unique in putting that kind of structure in an academic medical center,” Kastan said. “There are a number of other institutions around the country that have various versions of this but none exactly the way it is set up at Duke. My guess is that if we are successful, which I am confident that we will be, [the structure] will be a paradigm that others follow.”
Whereas previous open houses this week had specifically focused on the building’s contribution to Duke’s medical future and its role in centralizing care around patients’ needs, Thursday’s ceremony focused on the center’s role in the state of North Carolina and the world. Perdue noted that Duke’s presence extends beyond the University’s walls in a way that some may not realize.
“It’s easy for people to think of Duke just as a terrific university... or a fantastic brand-name basketball team that wins game after game,” Perdue said. “But actually it’s the role that Duke has played for decades in this city in caring for the health and welfare of our people in North Carolina and for people around the globe that is the difference maker.”
Brodhead added that cancer is one of the primary health concerns of the 20th and 21st centuries and that the many factors involved in fighting this complicated disease are centralized within one facility.
“Today we can take a new kind of pride because today is the day where you pull it all together,” he said. “Today is the day where the very same university where cutting edge research and discoveries are made has devised a physical structure so that the discoveries in labs can come right into the therapy for patients.”
Weinberg, who was treated for breast cancer at Duke after a misdiagnosis from another facility, offered a patient’s perspective on the role every medical professional plays in giving the best kind of care. Her focus on the kindness she received from staff members not directly involved in her treatment testified to Duke’s patient-centric approach to treatment.
“The countless examples of humanity given to me... make Duke shine as a cancer center that really cares,” she said. “I can honestly say that, Duke, you do both the small and great extraordinarily well.”
Funding a new kind of center
Kastan, who came to Duke less than a year ago when the project was already well underway, said that his role will be fulfilling the promise DCI has made to centralize cancer treatment around the patient.
Funding for the $230 million building was an investment from both Duke Medicine and philanthropic sources, Kastan noted. He declined to comment on the specific sources of funding from Duke Medicine or the exact amount of donations received for the building.
“The development office set fundraising goals—they were a small fraction of what the building costs,” he said. “Hopefully, there will be people who see the beauty and impact of the building and will want to contribute.”
Philanthropic dollars may have covered a small fraction of the costs of the building but most people who contributed felt a personal obligation to give back after having experiences with cancer. Myles Wittenstein, Trinity ’59 and a 15-year member of the DCI Board of Overseers, donated $100,000 to the center due to a close affiliation with Duke and experiences with cancer. Wittenstein’s sister died of cancer four years ago and his wife is a breast cancer survivor.
“I was a student at Duke, and I always felt I got more than I gave, and I was always trying to get even after that,” Wittenstein said. “It’s hard to live in this country and not have some connection to cancer.... [The center] let me give back a little bit.”
The Board of Overseers also paid for the inscribed stone healing pad on the lower floor, which contains inspirational quotes selected by cancer patients, he said.
“When you’re diagnosed with [cancer] it just blows you away—you have this helpless feeling,” Wilkinson said. “But it feels peaceful in here—they are making the best of a bad situation. It’s a lot better being in a building like this than a dark, cold building, because [with cancer] you feel dark anyway.”
Donors explored different methods for raising funds for the project. Fayetteville resident Jennifer Sullivan founded an endowment for cancer research after her husband, who was treated at Duke for melanoma, died in November. The Todd M. Sullivan Endowment has raised $27,000 to date. Sullivan noted how Duke’s patient-centric treatment encouraged her to support research at DCI.
“You get this diagnosis, and you think your world is going to end,” Sullivan said. “It’s nice that you can come here, and [the treatment] is as good as it gets. The center is making it a better experience.”
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