ASC’s Hope Lodge & Proton Treatment Center expanding

MARYLAND – The American Cancer Society, a leading cancer-fighting organization continues to create collaborations to make cancer care more accessible to those in need of treatment.

The ASC’s Hope Lodge is just one of those resources that provides a home away from home for people facing cancer and their caregivers when cancer treatment is far away. Tswana Sewell, Vice President of the Greater DC/Baltimore for the ASC, tells WMDT that the lodge is more like a family.

Those battling cancer can find not only a comforting stay, but a sense of community when connecting with others going through similar circumstances. “Just like a hotel – they do have private guest rooms, but again they come back into that community and they’re able to share meals in the kitchen or the dining room, make use of the library and just other spaces so they can have some respite after treatment,” says Sewell.

With over 20 guest rooms, and 13,000 free nights of lodging annually, they only continue to grow in hopes of providing comfort amid cancer patients’ ongoing battles. Sewell says, “You do need those social supports when you’re going through the hardest time of your life so the Hope Lodge and the American Cancer Society provide that.”

Beyond the Hope Lodge, the region’s first and most experienced proton therapy center is at the forefront of the continued fight against cancer.

When it comes to treating cancer, Dr. William Regine, the Executive Director at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center explains, it’s an advanced form of radiation therapy that can better target the tumor, without spreading to the surroundings. “Patients with brain tumors, head and neck tumors, chest, breast tumors, prostate cancers can benefit from the advanced form of proton therapy.”

The treatment gives patients fewer side effects, a better quality of life, and most importantly, hope. “When I started, we would say the likelihood of curing an adult cancer patient was just shy of 40% – now we cure over 60% of patients,” says Dr. Regine. “It’s one thing that you improve the curing but we have to make the journey a little bit easier for patients because it’s a lot to navigate.”

The Hope Lodge is set to expand the amount of room and days available for patients.

For more information about the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, just visit their website.

If you want to learn more about the proton treatment center, your doctor can refer you but you can also visit the proton facility website.