Fred Hutch - Proton Therapy

10/31/2025

10/30/2025

During learn why is an especially good tool to treat cancer in the left breast, as well as other cases. Protons can deliver less radiation to healthy tissue around the tumor such as the heart and lungs. Find out why it's so important! https://bit.ly/4nrMEep

What's new in proton therapy? Read the latest news and views from Fred Hutch's proton therapy facility’s patients and providers in The Beam, published monthly.

10/29/2025

Kylie Kang, MD, is a radiation oncologist at Fred Hutch who specializes in treatment. Having many radiation therapy modalities available to her - including - gives her the flexibility to create the most effective treatment plan for her patients as possible. Learn more about Dr. Kang's philosophy of care: https://bit.ly/4pI8sUH

10/29/2025

10/29/2025

10/28/2025

At 33 years old, Gillian McDonald was diagnosed with rare triple negative stage 3c inflammatory after feeling a lump during breast self-exam. Because she was young and nothing abnormal showed up in her mammogram results, her care team wasn't overly concerned. However, McDonald started experiencing burning sensations, so she requested another mammogram and ultrasound. The radiologist thought she might have inflammatory breast cancer, a rare subtype, and sent her for a biopsy to confirm her diagnosis.

“From the moment I met with the breast cancer team [at Fred Hutch], I knew I had to switch my care over,” said McDonald. “They got me into the reproductive clinic immediately. I am so grateful, because I was able to freeze embryos and will hopefully be able to have children in the future.” Shortly after that, she began chemotherapy.

“Gillian was such a warrior when I first met her in clinic,” said her radiation oncologist, Janice Kim, MD. “Despite her young age, she had maturity and strength beyond her years.”

Kim recommended McDonald enroll in a for breast cancer patients that included proton therapy. She thought it was especially important because the cancer was in McDonald’s left breast and closer to her heart. Proton therapy can better protect the heart and lungs. McDonald enrolled and was randomly selected to receive , starting in February 2024, after a mastectomy.

“I think it’s very important to take part in clinical trials and to be part of the research that may lead to a cure,” she said. “I have participated in five clinical trials: two at Fred Hutch and three elsewhere. And I will continue to see if I’m eligible for others. I believe this is how we move medicine forward. It’s been an amazing experience for me. My goal is to have others find my story reassuring and motivate them to look for all forms of treatment, even if it’s new.”

“Gillian’s selfless dedication toward research and clinical trials to find a cure was inspirational,” said Kim. “The study she enrolled in, RADCOMP, will provide much needed information on the benefits of proton radiotherapy. In addition to assessing the success rates of proton radiotherapy in breast cancer treatment, we assess the clinical benefits of cardiac and lung protection from protons.”

After her mastectomy, McDonald was feeling emotionally low. She said it helped her to be in a serene and beautiful setting like Fred Hutch Cancer Center – Proton Therapy, with books and snacks, and to have staff that were welcoming and friendly. McDonald said her care team was always helpful and offered great advice about how to minimize radiation side effects, especially to her skin.

“The level of attention they gave to all patients was very touching,” she said. “It’s a special place. I feel very fortunate that I got to be there.”

McDonald completed a 30-day treatment plan. The radiation and her nodal surgery affected the range of motion in her left arm, so she sees a physical therapist who has helped her regain about 85% range of motion and has addressed the tingling, tightness and numbness she had been experiencing. She recently had a follow-up appointment at the proton therapy facility, including an echocardiogram and there appeared to be no damage to her heart from the radiation.

Triple negative breast cancer has a higher recurrence rate, but McDonald is not letting that hold her back. She plans to keep living life to its fullest and hopes to have a baby in a few years. She is putting more effort into relationships rather than work and taking the opportunity to reframe her life and focus her health and spending quality time with family, friends and her French bulldog, Sookie.

10/27/2025

Liver cancer is rare but deadly and prevention or early detection is key. If you want to learn about the risk factors for (Hepatocellular Carcinoma, the American Liver Foundation () has a great webpage explaining risks, symptoms and more: https://bit.ly/3PLKhEI

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer and usually occurs in people with hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections.

10/24/2025

Join us at 3 PM today for meditation class with Linda Portnoy, MA. This month she will focus on the mind/body connection. You will learn how to do a mindful body scan. Email concierge.proton@fredhutch.org for details to join.

10/23/2025

Fred Hutch radiation oncologist, Dr. Smith Apisarnthanarax, explains when is an important tool in treating (liver cancer). A vital & sensitive organ, the liver is not an easy area to treat for cancer. Learn more from Dr. Apisarnthanarax: https://bit.ly/4pNp6lP

What's new in proton therapy? Read the latest news and views from Fred Hutch's proton therapy facility’s patients and providers in The Beam, published monthly.

10/22/2025

Join us today at 5:30 PM for our with speaker Melissa Romeo, PhD, from Fred Hutch Integrative Medicine. She will speak about to support prostate cancer treatment and recovery. Register and join here: https://bit.ly/3DLn7L7

10/21/2025

For women 40 and older, getting a yearly screening is an important part of your preventative health care.

Fred Hutch's Mammogram Van makes it easy! We come close to you. Our state-of-the-art van travels to neighborhood locations all over the greater Seattle area, making it fast and convenient to get the preventative care you need.

Check out the schedule here: https://bit.ly/4ofg8Mv

10/21/2025

Charlotte Elwood will never let anyone tell her anything is impossible. When the Boise, Idaho resident was diagnosed in 1997 with a rare form of ovarian cancer called germ cell granulosa — despite having no ovaries after a hysterectomy — she was told she would have six months to live. Elwood, 54 years old at the time, did not accept the prognosis.

Unfortunately, Elwood's ovarian cancer metastasized to her liver and continued to recur time and again. At one point, one of her metastatic tumors grew to the size of a football.

“People told me the reason I was still alive was because I was willing to try everything there was and not give up,” said Elwood.
In 2015, when “it reared its ugly head again,” she was told she was out of options, that radiation was off the table because she had received as much conventional radiation as her liver could tolerate.

Elwood pressed her oncologist for other options. He mentioned proton therapy but cautioned her that they would likely not take her because she was too sick. Elwood insisted on an appointment, and was referred to Fred Hutch Cancer Center radiation oncologist, Smith Apisarnthanarax, MD.

can sometimes be used to treat cancer when all other options for radiation are exhausted, because proton radiation can be delivered very precisely, within millimeters, sparing healthy tissue from receiving further radiation exposure. Healthy tissue can only receive a finite dose of radiation before the risks outweigh the benefits.

“This was a particularly difficult case, but I felt that proton therapy would allow us to deliver meaningful doses of radiation to her liver recurrence in the safest way possible,” said Apisarnthanarax.

“I am so thankful for Dr. Apisarnthanarax. He is so caring, such an amazing man. I have a lot of admiration for him,” said Elwood.

Elwood expressed a lot of enthusiasm about the staff, as well, saying they made her feel warm and uplifted.

“I felt the staff’s warm welcome the moment I walked in,” said Elwood. “Sometimes, the places you go for something serious like cancer can feel stifling. That was not the case here. The people are the best part of the experience.”

After she returned to Idaho, Elwood expected the cancer to return at the two-year mark, which for her had been the norm, however, she has stayed cancer-free.

“If not for protons and Dr. Apisarnthanarax, I would never have met my great-granddaughters,” said Elwood. “It really was my last shot.”
At her 10-year anniversary since having proton therapy, Elwood wrote Apisarnthanarax a card to thank him and update him on her life. She is now 82.