MD anDerson Texas cancer center’s partnership with Community Health Network will save more lives a n exciting new partnership between Community Health Network and MD Anderson Cancer Network will provide highquality services, including cutting-edge treatments, for Hoosiers with cancer Community Health Network announced in November that two of its locations, Community Hospital North and Community Hospital East, will become affiliates of MD Anderson Cancer Network, a program of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, with certification of the remaining Community Health Network locations coming soon As a result, physicians at Community who are certified by the MD Anderson Cancer Network will be able to access the most up-to-date research findings and treatment plans And having access to that knowledge means that more Hoosiers will be able to win their battle with cancer To one Hoosier, the partnership between Community Health Network and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has already made a difference In April 2005, a doctor told Rita Daniels, 71, Indianapolis, that she had leiomyosarcoma, an extremely rare soft tissue cancer Another woman in her church had the very same type of cancer “But she died in November She died!” said Daniels Daniels was alone when she got the diagnosis “But not really,” she said “I praise the Lord every day!” Almost eight years later, she’s still alive after multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and being in and out of Community Health Network and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center At MD Anderson, Daniels rides on a shuttle bus from her hotel to the 12 • CardiaC Care 2013 • CancerCare_magazine.indd 12 Rita Daniels, 71, Community Health Network cancer patient, goes to Texas to consult with MD Anderson Cancer Network doctors hospital with other cancer patients She said, “You meet a lot of wonderful people there and they’re all so thankful You hear people tell stories about different cancers and you think they’re going to Mills die right away.” A couple people she talked with said no, they’ve been going to MD Anderson for a number of years “And so, people don’t all just die because they have cancer!” Daniels said Even with cancer, the retired Metropolitan School District of Warren Township elementary school teacher and her husband continue to travel “I am blessed!” Daniels said “When I tell people about my cancer, they tell me about theirs I didn’t know there was so much cancer around us! Nobody in my family had it But now, we’re all very familiar with it We just go one day at a time We don’t go ‘what if…?’” Daniels said “Life is so short! You can’t waste it on little bitty things, you know Before the two organizations became affiliated late last year, Community Health Network president and chief executive officer Bryan Mills sat down one-on-one with his oncologists to make sure they understood he wasn’t criticizing them or the care they were providing “Bryan is a visionary leader,” said William A “Bill” Hyslop, F.A.C.H.E., president and chief executive officer of MD Anderson Physicians Network and MD Anderson Services Corp., subsidiaries of MD Anderson Cancer Center Hyslop said, “As MD Anderson strengthens their research, they’re going to need more and more partners like Community Health Network to see more and more patients across the country so we can work on this terrible disease together.” Check out MD Anderson’s Moon Shot goals for ending cancer at www.cancermoonshots.org.• • Linda G Hughes is an Indianapolisbased freelance medical writer A promotional supplement to Indianapolis Business Journal 1/25/13 4:23 PM