New Cancer Center Will Have "Beam of Hope" - KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, Sports

New Cancer Center Will Have "Beam of Hope"

Everyone has likely been affected by cancer in some aspect of our lives. Either personally or by someone close to us.

Construction on the new $30 million Cancer Center at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center is well underway.

"This has been a dream for many years and as I alluded to, is now gelling into reality," said Jean Halpern, President of the Board of Trustees at CRMC.

With each passing day the future of cancer care in Cheyenne will soon be the present.

"Unfortunately, up to this point we haven't been able to really provide what I would consider a holistic approach to cancer in the way that we should in the years 2013 and beyond," Halpern said. 

The final beam to be placed in the Cancer Center has been dubbed the "Beam of Hope". Tammy Thiede has been working in cancer care for 30 years at CRMC. She was just one of literally hundreds who turned out to sign the beam.

"I wrote, in loving memory to my mom and my aunt for the hard battle that they fought and that they will always be loved and remembered," Thiede said.

Many of the other signatures also wished to remember a loved one, honor someone or show their support for the fight to find a cure.

"I signed it for the future. I signed it for what it means for our community in the years to come," Halpern said.

They're signatures that will be a part of the center forever.

"It's an exciting thing to know that they're a piece of this for as long as the building stands, which I hope is many, many years," Thiede said.

The beam will be set into place within the next week and in a few short months, the first cancer patients will be getting cared for.

"We are on schedule and this Fall we're going to be completed and open," Halpern said.

If you'd like to help in the fight against cancer, you can always donate to the American Cancer Society. They're celebrating their 100th year.

Locally, the Cheyenne Relay for Life is celebrating it's 20th year this year.

So their goal is to raise $120,000 for ACS.

Here is the website for the Cheyenne Relay for Life. www.relayforlife.org/cheyennewy

You can also visit their facebook page.