Yesterday, Feb. 4, was World Cancer Day, an international call to action established in 2000 at the World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium in Paris. The day isnt an attempt to raise awareness of any certain type of cancer, but instead the fight that thousands of people and their health care teams are fighting, every day.

We at the Leonard C. Ferguson Cancer Center at FHN Memorial Hospital in Freeport are proud to be part of that fight. In just the past few years, our talented team of professionals has cared for patients fighting 20 different types of cancer, right here on our Freeport campus.

Our medical oncologist-hematologist Arshad Shaikh, MD, offers our patients treatments that are on the front line of immunology, which gives a patients own immune system the power to fight certain cancer cells.

Our radiation oncology team, led by Bobby Koneru, MD, and Gary Shultz, DO, from the Paramount Oncology Group in Dubuque, provides our patients state-of-the-art treatments usually only available in university hospitals. Volumetric Modulated ARC Therapy (VMAT) also called Smart Arc or RapidArc radiation therapy allows our experts to more precisely target cancer cells for treatment, leaving surrounding healthy tissue unharmed.

Though patients dont usually see him at the center, our team includes surgical oncologist Spyridon Theodorakis, MD, FACS. He served fellowships in surgical oncology at Tulane University in New Orleans and at Roswell Park Memorial Hospital in Buffalo, New York, and has made it possible for breast cancer patients to consult and have reconstruction surgery in the same place as their lumpectomy or mastectomy, right here at FHN.

Our center is more than high-tech, though: From the moment a patient walks in our door, were part of his or her team. Our outstanding staff genuinely cares about our patients, and were honored to take time to get to know them and their needs.

Perhaps most importantly, we understand that being diagnosed with cancer is a big, frightening deal. Thats why we offer a three-day guarantee: Youll have a follow-up appointment within three business days of your referral. In addition, you may contact us, even if you arent a regular FHN patient.

When you are diagnosed with cancer, you want a top-notch team of experts working on your treatment as soon as possible. At the Leonard C. Ferguson Cancer Center at FHN Memorial Hospital in Freeport, youve got just that. Call us at 815-599-7000 to get your team together.

Julie Nampel MSN, RN, is the director of the Leonard C. Ferguson Cancer Center at FHN Memorial Hospital in Freeport.

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State-of-the-art cancer care at a university level close to home - Freeport Journal-Standard