Oncology Center

Michael Landon's good humor last week as he announced to the press in California that he has advanced pancreatic cancer was an exhibition of extraordinary grace in a difficult situation.In fact, the prognosis in most cases of cancer of the pancreas is not encouraging: The vast majority of pancreatic tumors are known as adenocarcinomas, which rarely cause symptoms until they have passed the point of no return.Cure is rare, and survival time is more often measured in months than in years, according to Dr. Richard Kaplan, associate professor of oncology and medicine at the University of Maryland Oncology Center.

Ten-year-old Juliana Carver loves to swim. Unfortunately, between chemotherapy treatments, medications and routine hospital visits, Juliana doesn't always have the time or energy to be in the water. "Her 'Make a Wish' wish when she first got cancer was a pool," her father said. John Carver describes his daughter as a "fish in the water. " Now, at the end of her second battle with a rare form of muscle cancer, she'll be spending a lot more time with other young swimmers. On Tuesday, Juliana became part of a Carroll County swim team that practices near her home in Hampstead.

Carroll County General Hospital's proposal to build an oncology center on the grounds of the Westminster hospital sailed through a Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals hearing without opposition on Tuesday.Appeals board approval clears the way for the hospital to submit a site plan to the county planning commission.The hospital is planning to build a one-story, 13,250-square-foot building on the Center Street side of the hospital campus, opposite the Carroll County Farm Museum. It is scheduled to open late next year.

On January 7, 2005 GRAYSON C. WOODBURY, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret., husband of the late Rosalee Woodbury (nee Hollahan) and beloved husband of Johanna Nealon Woodbury. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (Beltway exit 26-A) on Wednesday 10 to 11 A.M., where a funeral service will be held at 11 A.M. Interment Mt. Erin Cemetery, Havre de Grace. The family suggest memorial contribution in his name to the Oncology Center of St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Drive, Towson, MD 21204 or The Salvation Army, 814 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21230.

A regional oncology center offering Howard County's first radiation treatments for cancer patients officially opens today in Columbia.The Central Maryland Oncology Center now will offer cancer patients some of the most advanced forms of radiation and medical oncology treatments -- treatments that usually aren't offered under the same roof."

Upper Chesapeake Health System, owner and operator of Harford County's two hospitals, has broken ground for construction of the county's first cancer treatment center.The 5,000-square-foot Upper Chesapeake Oncology Center is scheduled to open in December. Officials with the health system, who run Fallston General Hospital near Bel Air and Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace, say the new center eventually will serve as many as 300 patients a year.Jeffrey A. Flick, a senior vice president with the health system, said the idea of the center is to provide accessible and affordable care to residents of Harford and Cecil counties.

The Children's Cancer Foundation, a local charity, has announced a $1.46 million gift to Johns Hopkins Hospital for pediatric cancer patient care and research.About $1.3 million is earmarked for a pediatric outpatient treatment facility in a new Oncology Center currently being planned at Hopkins. An additional $160,000 will be placed in a Children's Cancer Foundation Research Scholarship Fund to support young researchers.In 1984, the foundation pledged $2.5 million to the Oncology Center for its pediatric cancer program.

On January 7, 2005 GRAYSON C. WOODBURY, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret., husband of the late Rosalee Woodbury (nee Hollahan) and beloved husband of Johanna Nealon Woodbury. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (Beltway exit 26-A) on Wednesday 10 to 11 A.M., where a funeral service will be held at 11 A.M. Interment Mt. Erin Cemetery, Havre de Grace. The family suggest memorial contribution in his name to the Oncology Center of St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Drive, Towson, MD 21204 or The Salvation Army, 814 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21230.

Howard County General Hospital on Thursday will sign a formal agreement with the University of Maryland creating a regional oncology center expected to open to cancer patients late next year.Thursday's signing will be the next step in a long-range effort by Howard County General to better serve cancer patients from throughout the region, according to Victor Broccolino, president of the 223-bed hospital."Part of our strategic plan is to become a [well-established] regional oncology center by the end of the century," said Mr. Broccolino.

Dr. Brigid G. Leventhal, professor of oncology and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the first director of the Pediatric Oncology Division at Hopkins' Oncology Center, died Sunday of cancer at her home in Columbia.Dr. Leventhal, who was 58, was an expert on the development of new chemotherapy treatments and the assessment of their toxicity in children.At her death, she was working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a study of agents already approved for treatment of children and of any long-term side effects.

On Tuesday, December 30, 2003, PAULINE S. WOODING (nee Scott); beloved wife of the late Walter J. Wooding, Sr. (Mike); loving mother of Amber S. Wooding, Marsha W. Logan (Bubbles), and Walter J. Wooding, Jr. (Mike); devoted grandmother of Paul F. Wooding, Jonathan N. Logan and his wife Jewel, Lisa W. Boone and her husband Anthony and Monica D. Logan; dear sister of Beatrice S. Marshall;, four great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews. Memorial Services on Saturday, January 24. Family time 10:00 AM, Services begin at 10:30 AM at Gospel Tabernacle Baptist Church, 3100 Walbrook Avenue, 21216.

FOR THE PAST four months, Elkridge Elementary School fourth-graders Sierra Cannady and Katlyn Holley have been collecting magazines to bring to the Central Maryland Oncology Center in Columbia. Every month, they get on the school's public address system and publicize their magazine drive. And they're so successful that the oncology center doesn't have room for all the magazines. Overflow magazines are donated to Howard County General Hospital. On March 7, the girls were recognized for their efforts with a private tour of the oncology center.

Carroll County General Hospital's proposal to build an oncology center on the grounds of the Westminster hospital sailed through a Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals hearing without opposition on Tuesday.Appeals board approval clears the way for the hospital to submit a site plan to the county planning commission.The hospital is planning to build a one-story, 13,250-square-foot building on the Center Street side of the hospital campus, opposite the Carroll County Farm Museum. It is scheduled to open late next year.

Carroll County General Hospital has two projects on the drawing board for 1999: the construction of an oncology center in Westminster and the opening of an outpatient radiology center at the nearby Richard N. Dixon Building.The hospital's plan to build a one-story, 13,250-square-foot cancer treatment center on South Center Street is scheduled for a hearing before the county Board of Zoning Appeals on Dec. 29.In the Dixon Building, the hospital plans to renovate the second floor to consolidate outpatient radiology services offered at Carroll County General and at a Poole Road facility operated by the hospital's partner, Advanced Radiology, P.A.The hospital has added services or facilities in each of the past two years.

GOV. PARRIS N. Glendening is to announce tomorrow the details of a new Maryland Science and Technology Scholarship at the Historical Electronics Museum in Linthicum, and he has invited students from North County High School and the Center for Applied Technology North to the ceremony."

Quietly, Theodore J. Zabora volunteered to cultivate gardens at two houses where out-of-town families can stay during cancer treatments at Johns Hopkins Hospital. And quietly, he made and gave away stained-glass items to friends and acquaintances.Mr. Zabora, 82, a retired steel worker and Baltimore native, died Friday of lung cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital Oncology Center, where he had been a volunteer for 12 years."He was always in the background. He came up and went about his business.

Services for Frederick A. Culver, contracts manager for the Aerospace Divisions of the Westinghouse Electric Corp. in the Baltimore area, will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Harry H. Witzke Funeral Home, 4112 Columbia Pike in Ellicott City.Mr. Culver, who was 49, died Sunday of cancer at his home in Ellicott City.With Westinghouse for 29 years, he was a former president of the local unit of the National Contracts Management Association. The Catonsville native was a graduate of the Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., and attended the University of Baltimore.

Elaine McCauley walked slowly, wheeling her IV through the treatment area."Ooooh," she exclaimed, "there's Eric Davis."McCauley, 50, wore an Orioles cap, covering a head that was once full of hair. Davis greeted her warmly, then took her cap to autograph.It wasn't a typical exchange between a player and fan.It was two cancer patients sharing a special moment at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center at Green Spring Station."Oh, he's going to sign it! I'm cured!" McCauley said, kicking her leg into the air.Davis smiled.

Something called "translational research" is a hot topic in medical science these days. And it's precisely what won Dr. Nancy E. Davidson appointment to a newly endowed and decidedly unusual chair for breast cancer research at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center that was announced yesterday.Translational research means figuring out how to do something that seems as if it should be simple but isn't: Using findings of the science laboratory to create therapies for patients, and, in turn, using patients' experiences to help guide basic scientific research.