LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — For Alexander Shaffer, cancer isn't something he's fighting for the first time. It's something he's battled for nearly his entire life.
"Alex, at five and a half, was diagnosed with ALL leukemia," said his mother, Cindy Shaffer.
The list of diagnoses and treatments since then has been long.
Now, Shaffer is battling a rare brain tumor. But unlike many cancer patients before him, he'll receive one of the most advanced forms of radiation therapy available without leaving the Tampa Bay area.
Shaffer will be among the first patients treated at Moffitt Cancer Center's new proton therapy center at the Speros campus in Land O' Lakes.
"I'm like, whoa! This looks like something from the Jetsons," his mother, Cindy Shaffer said after seeing the new facility.
Proton therapy uses highly targeted proton beams to attack tumors while limiting radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. Doctors say the precision can reduce side effects compared to traditional radiation, particularly for tumors located near critical organs.
For Cindy Shaffer, having the treatment close to home is just as important as the technology itself.
"I'm pretty sure we've had a lot of damage in the good areas with the past radiation that he's done," she said. "So, it's an amazing thing. It's only an hour from our house as opposed to the other options were Orlando and Jacksonville."
For Dr. Kosj Yamoah, chair of Moffitt's Radiation Oncology Department, bringing proton therapy to Tampa Bay fulfills a deeply personal mission.
His young son died after battling a rare brain cancer, forcing the family to travel across the country multiple times to receive proton therapy.
"To feel like you've lost your support system or structure. You have to be uprooted from where you are and the people that love you the most, to go to get the best care can be very disruptive," Yamoah said.
He says families in the Tampa Bay area will no longer have to make those difficult trips to access this specialized treatment.
The proton therapy center is the latest facility to open on Moffitt's 775-acre Speros campus in central Pasco County. The development is designed to bring together cancer care, scientific research and biotechnology companies, helping establish the area near the Angeline community as a major life sciences hub.
The next phase of the campus, a massive research and innovation center, is scheduled to open in October. When the project is fully built out, thousands of researchers, health care workers and other employees are expected to work and live in the area, making Speros one of the region's largest economic development projects.
For Alex, though, the future is much simpler.
"I just don't want it to come back."
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