Mobile's Cancer Breakthrough

Mobile is on the map for cutting edge cancer research.

Hundreds of supporters gathered Monday for the grand opening of the University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute.

The state-of-the-art facility is the first academic cancer institute on the upper Gulf Coast, and it is home to Mobile's only TomoTherapy System and CyberKnife.

The institute conducts basic and clinical research under the same roof where patients are being treated, which for people like Rhonda Brantley, who finished her last chemo treatment three months ago, means more options.

"We don't have to travel out of state. We have great doctors here who are going to treat us and just offer us hope," says Brantley.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley joined a stage full of state and local leaders to applaud the grand opening. Riley, whose adult daughter died of cancer, says the research center was a long time coming.

"I watched my daughter go through those treatments," says Riley. "I can't imagine having to go to Birmingham to get those treatments, then get in the car and drive back."

The Mitchell Cancer Institute is 128,000 square feet and includes a "Window of Hope," giving patients and researchers a rare look at each other. The buildings designers hope patients and their families will be encouraged by the pursuit of new cancer treatments, and they hope scientists will be inspired by seeing the people being helped by their research.