MD Anderson - A Place Where Cancer Is the Norm

The NY Times has a nice article today about MD Anderson: A place where Cancer is the Norm.

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has a mission statement, and everyone who works there, from the president to the cleaning crews, can state it like a catechism: to “eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation and the world.” 

For the nearly 90,000 patients who will go to the center in Houston this year, that mission cannot be fulfilled soon enough.  They and their families arrive at the world’s largest freestanding cancer hospital from around the world, often leaving behind jobs and stashing children with relatives for months.  Some rent apartments or stay in mobile home parks near the hospital.

They enter through a soaring lobby, with cheery aquariums and exuberant volunteer greeters eager to help in any way.  They come looking for hope.  But there is no mistaking what this place is: the front line of the frustrating war on a still largely incurable disease.  Doctors are encouraged to try everything, and when insurers balk, they pick up the phone, repeatedly, hoping to persuade them to pay for what may be unconventional treatments.

Pretty inspiring; how great is it to have institutions like this on the front lines.  And great progress has been made, although there is so much left to do.  Just shows how difficult the fight against cancer really is...