JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis held a news conference Thursday morning at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to help christen a particle accelerator that will be used in heavy-particle cancer therapy, calling it the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
“It’ll be the only carbon-ion therapy program in the entire Western Hemisphere, so this is newer technology. Japan has really embraced it. Mayo is the first one in the United States,” Ron DeSantis said. “You know, this requires capital investment. (...) Since I’ve been governor, it’s been close to $100 million that Mayo has received in various programs and, toward this carbon-ion therapy, about $30 million of our program funds contributed to where we are today.”
The massive particle accelerator facility began as an agreement made in 2019 between the Mayo Clinic and Hitachi.
[VIDEO BELOW: More cancer-causing forever chemicals in Brevard drinking water]
Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dr. Kent Thielen spoke Thursday to describe the differences and benefits of proton therapy and carbon-ion therapy to typical cancer treatment.
“More than half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment plans. Most commonly, that means X-ray or photon therapy, which are X-rays delivered by linear accelerators. This photon therapy is widely available and has saved countless lives, but because photons have no mass or charge, they can’t be stopped precisely in the tumor. That means some of the surrounding healthy tissues are often exposed to radiation, which is an especially serious concern for children or for patients whose tumors are located very close to vital organs. (...) Heavy particles change that equation,” Thielen said. “Protons and carbon ions have mass and charge, which allows them to be delivered with extraordinary precision — precisely targeting tumors while better sparing surrounding organs and tissue — and they offer the promise of fewer and more powerful treatments, reducing physical, emotional and financial strain on our patients. (...) Carbon ions are 12 times heavier than protons. They’re accelerated in the massive circular synchrotron accelerator that you see behind us — which is really an engineering feat, larger than a football field — that accelerates particles to near the speed of light with remarkable sub-millimeter accuracy."
The remarks led into the ceremonious flipping of a switch.
The facility itself — the 228,000-square-foot Duan Family Building — opened in June and isn’t expected to begin treating patients with proton therapy until early 2027 and carbon-ion therapy until 2028.
”As somebody who had radiation therapy, six weeks of it to be exact, my left arm doesn’t work as well as my right arm does and sometimes you see me pushing a swing with just my right arm with my kids, because the left one isn’t working as well," Casey DeSantis said. “Boy, it gives you a lot of hope that people who find themselves in a situation where they are going to have to seek therapy might not have the ramifications from the treatment, and that gives a lot of hope to a lot of people, not only to beat cancer. That’s part of it, right? But to be able to have the quality of life afterwards and not to have the implications and ramifications of going through some of these really difficult treatments.”
Watch the news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here:
The governor on Wednesday appointed First District Court of Appeal Judge Adam Tanenbaum to the Florida Supreme Court. He replaces Justice Charles Canady, who left the state’s highest court to be director of the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.