PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines celebrated their brand new Moffitt Cancer Center, Wednesday, where patients with blood-related cancers can receive life-saving treatments.
“Those types of cancers usually require very intensive therapy,” said Dr. Hugo Fernandez, chair of the new program. “We have a unit here that was perfect for the setting.”
The center has been treating patients since July. One patient, Melvin Feliciano, was diagnosed with leukemia back in 2014 and needed a bone marrow transplant.
“‘Do I have leukemia? Yes.’ I said, ‘OK, what are we going to do about this?'” he said.
Feliciano was the first patient at the center to receive a transplant, and his brother was his donor.
The center features new technology that allows doctors to use the blood cells of only half matched donors. “He’s able to get the transplantation without a perfectly matched donor,” said Fernandez.
“It literally saved my life, literally saved my life,” said Feliciano.
Feliciano has lived with cancer for three years and said he’s ready to get his life back. “Now it’s an open book,” he said.
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