Project Hope

Pat Jackey remembers the day she and her husband Mike walked into the Cancer Care Center at Flaget memorial Hospital, the battleground for Mike's Stage 3 colon cancer. They spotted the scripture on the wall.

They understood his doctor Dr. Monte Martin and the simple way he explained complex topics. "We had that feeling of, 'we're home'," Pat Jackey recalls. Mike Jackey, who was diagnosed in 2011 at age 62, fell in love with the hospital and the people there. "It sounds strange, but these people were so kind that I almost looked forward to my cancer treatments," he once told the Kentucky Standard. Mike's cancer went away, but it returned in 2015 with a vengeance.

He passed away on March 13, 2015. "These are our hometown people," Pat Jackey said. "The way that they treated us, you don't get that other places." - Pat Jackey

Jeannette Cantrell had followed her doctor's orders: Every year, like clockwork, she had a mammogram. One year, her doctor offered some extra advice: "I think you should go get a 3D mammogram," she said. "It shows so much more." Not long after, Jeannette was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer. "I was gobsmacked," she remembers. Cantrell runs Bardstown Art Gallery; her husband Jim does oil and watercolor paintings and in 2017 was the artist of the official Derby and Oaks posters. Jeannette was treated at the cancer center, and she's now an advocate for 3D mammograms. "For us as business owners, not having to drive in and spend a whole day in Louisville was a huge help," she said. - Jeannette Cantrell

Just months after having a "clear" mammogram, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. I was blindsided. I had either grown a 4.3-cm tumor, or a much smaller tumor was there but had been missed. A 3D mammogram would have most likely detected this cancer at a much earlier stage. Early detection is key in fighting and winning against cancer. While I had to have my initial chemotherapy in Louisville, the Cancer Care Center at Flaget Memorial Hospital opened in time so I could receive my radiation therapy there. This local treatment gave me and my family 150 more hours to spend together that would have been spent traveling back and forth to Louisville. The exceptional care provided at the cancer center helped me face the disease with confidence and comfort. When battling a life-threatening disease, you lean on God more heavily, and you treasure your family even more. I am overjoyed to say that I am now a 5-year survivor, and I have Flaget Memorial Hospital to thank.

Jane Roby thums through the thick, worn journal on her lap. In it are the memories she never wanted - memories of her husband Jim's battle with colon cancer. But the journal also holds a story of hope. Jim Roby was diagnosed in 2011 with colon cancer. He had part of his colon removed, resulting in a colostomy. Later, during a surgery to remove the colostomy, it was discovered that the cancer had metastasized to his liver - Stage 4. Due to where the spots were on the liver, surgery would not be possible, doctors in Louisville told them. Jim was given less than 2 years to live. He and Jane decided that they wanted him to be treated in their hometown. The Cancer Center's employees were "upbeat, smiling, and positive," they remember.. "Dr. Martin gave us hope that liver surgery was possible. He was just so understanding." Dr. Martin guided Jim through treatment, and he was able to have the surgery. He's now cancer free.

In Gloria Smith's war against breast cancer, the battlefield was the radiology room at the Cancer Care Center at Flaget Memorial Hospital. "That room is a very sacred room," said Smith, of Bardstown. "It saved my life." Flage's radiology equipment is some of the most advanced in Kentucky,m and the room creates a "heaven-like" ambiance, with music and soft, colorful lights, Smith said. "It's beautiful," Smith said. "To me, the ceiling that changed colors as I laid there receiving my treatment gave me hope, strength and the courage to fight another day." Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, not long after her father had finished treatment for prostate cancer at the Cancer Center. She had the tumor removed and underwent 17 radiation treatments. Smith and her father are now both cancer free, thanks to the center.

Brandi Greenwell, 31, knew her family history of cancer meant that she needed to be vigilant about her body.  In February, as she was carrying a sippy cup to her 3-year-old, she did a quick breast check as she often did, but this time she felt a marble-sized lump. She called to schedule a mammogram right away.

That week, the mammogram and, soon after, a biopsy revealed her worst fear: breast cancer. But treatment got underway quickly at the CHI Saint Joseph Health – Cancer Care Center at Flaget Memorial Hospital, and within weeks Brandi had a mastectomy that was later followed with chemotherapy. Brandi now visits the cancer center every three weeks for chemotherapy. 

"When I come here, they feel like family," she said of the nurses, several of whom popped their heads in to check on her one recent morning. "It's the best group of people I've met." Brandi, a former employee at Flaget Memorial Hospital, said she is grateful to have the center close to her home.