LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville has a new way to help patients battling cancer, and the new therapy has fewer toxic side effects than traditional chemotherapy.
Resident and cancer patient Thomas Dunbar is donating $1 million to create a specialized center to provide what's called CAR T-Cell therapies to both pediatric and adult patients who are fighting cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.
These type of treatments use patients' own immune systems to fight cancer. Doctors said these are some of the most advanced treatments currently available, and the U of L James Graham Brown Cancer Center will now become the only location for this type of treatment in the Midwest.
Dunbar, who lost his father and 6-year-old son to cancer, is asking others to step in to save lives.
Thomas Dunbar announces $1 million donation to U of L James Graham Brown Cancer Center for CAR T-Cell cancer therapy.
"Imagine what would have happened if I started earlier," he said. "My son might still be alive. Owen McMasters and my father most certainly would be."
Doctors say CAR T-Cell therapies have fewer toxic side effects than chemotherapy.
The hope is to have the treatment available by next year.
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