Bismarck Cancer Center donates a piece of equipment to Ukraine

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The Bismarck Cancer Center is helping provide relief to those in need. When the Center’s administrators realized they could donate a piece of equipment to Ukraine, they jumped at the opportunity.

The Center found out about a program called Radiating Hope, a non-profit helping treat cancer, and they wanted to help aid efforts in Ukraine.

“Our executive director Amy Grossman, myself learned about Radiating Hope in about 2016. And we’ve learned more and more over the years, and we both thought, ‘Man, it would be so cool to be able to do that and provide cancer treatments to patients around the world that naturally couldn’t get it just because of location and technology challenges,’” said Melissa Klein Radiation Therapy and Construction Manager.

The infinity radiation machine still has around ten years of usefulness and will be used to help treat patients.

“It’s very exciting for me that we’re able to work with radiating hope to make this donation to Ukraine and to help patients that otherwise wouldn’t be able to receive cancer care,” said Robert Reynolds, Medical Director, and Radiation Oncologist.

It’s a mission the Center has wished for, and it’s finally come to fruition.

“This is an absolute dream to be able to help another country that’s having challenges and to be able to provide that care. It’s something that myself, Amy, and our team could have never imagined that we’d be able to do, and we just feel so fortunate and blessed to be able to be in the position to do this for Ukraine,” said Klein.

With the donation happening to be going to Ukraine, it seems timely, considering the current state of the country.

“Also, there it’s a country that’s currently being devastated, and it certainly has a lack of infrastructure and resources. So, to be able to help give back to those that are in dire need of radiation and Cancer Care Services is personally very meaningful,” said Reynolds.

Each year, The Bismarck Cancer Center treats, on average, between 800 to 1,000 patients.

They’re hoping to start the process of disassembling the machine this evening, so they can ship it out to Ukraine as soon as possible.

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