UC Davis Cancer Center has announced a $35-million expansion project that will nearly double the center's size to 109,000 square feet. Now operating at capacity, the Cancer Center cares for 9,000 adult and pediatric patients each year, with outpatient visits increasing 6 percent annually.

The planned expansion will also make room for the pediatric cancer program, now housed in other buildings on the medical center campus, and add both outdoor and indoor play areas for children undergoing cancer treatment.

"When our son, Keaton, was being treated for cancer at UC Davis, all he wanted to do was play," said Robyn Raphael, of Roseville, who presented UC Davis Cancer Center officials with a $50,000 check to name the indoor play area in honor of her son. Keaton Raphael died in 1998, at age 5, of neuroblastoma.

"This seemed a fitting way to honor our son's life and continue to help other children through their cancer treatment experience," Raphael said. "Playing is truly a form of therapy for children who have cancer; it helps them cope and attempt to maintain some sense of a normal childhood."

Ralph deVere White, assistant dean for cancer programs at UC Davis and director of the Cancer Center, accepted the gift on behalf of the more than 400 pediatric cancer patients who come to UC Davis for treatment each year.

"Keaton's Corner will be a place of joy and healing for children with cancer for many years to come," deVere White said. "To continue to fulfill our mission, UC Davis Cancer Center must rely on the support of the community. We are very grateful to the Raphael family and the Keaton Raphael Memorial for this generous gift."

The $35-million Cancer Center expansion will add a new, 46,000-square-foot, three-story building along the north side of the existing 63,000-square-foot Cancer Center, located at 4501 X Street on the medical center campus. The new building will be connected to the existing building by a second-floor bridge, with a common courtyard below.

The first floor of the new building will contain Keaton's Corner, the outpatient pediatric cancer clinic and a pediatric infusion center, where children with cancer receive chemotherapy. The second floor will house an expanded adult clinic; the third floor will include a pharmacy and an expanded adult infusion center. The project will also remodel about 9,000 square feet of the existing Cancer Center building to create additional space for the cancer resource center, academic and administrative offices, and support operations. The radiation oncology clinic will remain on the ground floor of the existing building.

Integrating the pediatric cancer program into the Cancer Center is one of the most significant parts of the clinic expansion.

"It will contribute to increased collaborations between adult and pediatric oncologists and make ancillary services, such as infusion and radiation therapy, more easily accessible to children and their families," said Theodore Zwerdling, associate professor of pediatrics and acting chair of pediatric hematology and oncology.

UC Davis Health System reserves will cover almost one-third of the $35 million project cost, with the remaining $25 million coming from private donations and foundation support. The Oakland-based Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation in June contributed $5 million to the project. Naming opportunities are still available for many areas of the planned complex. Construction, which will begin immediately once the remaining funds have been raised, is expected to take two years.

The expansion is the first of an anticipated two-phase building plan for the Cancer Center. The second phase would add a third, 72,000-square foot building along the east side of the existing Cancer Center, creating a 174,000-square-foot cancer treatment complex. Funding mechanisms and project dates for this phase remain to be determined.

The existing Cancer Center, at 4501 X Street on the medical center campus, was completed in 1991 and originally contained 56,000 square feet. In May the health system completed a $10 million expansion that added 7,000 square feet to the radiation oncology clinic on the ground floor of the Cancer Center.

Additional projects outside Sacramento have also helped ease space demands at the Cancer Center. In 1999, an outpatient adult infusion center was established in the UC Davis Medical Group's Roseville office. Affiliated cancer centers opened in Marysville and Merced in 2000; UC Davis Health System shares ownership of both the Fremont-Rideout Cancer Center in Marysville and the Mercy Cancer Center in Merced, and provides physicians to staff the centers.

Nevertheless, outpatient visits to the Cancer Center have increased by 50 percent over the past five years and are projected to increase by at least 6 percent a year through 2009. The need for cancer treatment is increasing as the region's population grows and ages, and as new methods of cancer diagnosis and treatment become available.

"There is an urgent need to complete this project because the existing Cancer Center cannot support the increased numbers of cancer patients seeking care here," said Jeanine Stiles, associate director for administration at the Cancer Center.

SmithGroup, the nation's third-largest architecture, engineering, interiors and planning firm, is the project architect. The University of California Board of Regents is expected to sign off on the project at its Nov. 16-17 meeting.

Robyn and Kyle Raphael established the Keaton Raphael Memorial in 1998 to raise money for pediatric cancer research and to support area families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis. Over the past seven years, the non-profit organization has raised more than $500,000, including $118,000 for pediatric research and programs at UC Davis. In addition, the Keaton Raphael Memorial has distributed $20,000 in grants to 80 area families; the grants help to cover the many treatment-related costs that aren't paid for by insurance, including transportation, extra babysitting for siblings and short-term housing near the hospital during a child's hospitalization. The funds are raised through annual "Chipping Away at Childhood Cancer" golf tournaments and other community events. More information about the Keaton Raphael Memorial is available at www.childcancer.org or by calling (916) 784-6786.

"We feel very blessed by the support we received while caring for Keaton," Robyn Raphael said. "Our tragedy has opened our eyes and presses us forward. I hope everyone in our community will do what they can to help us raise the remaining funds we need to start construction of the new building."

UC Davis Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center serving the Central Valley and inland Northern California. It has the region's only pediatric bone marrow transplant program and pediatric hospice program. Its clinical research program, one of the largest in the nation, offers 150 adult and 50 pediatric clinical trials at any given time. Its $64 million cancer research program has 180 scientists at work on 317 projects aimed at finding new treatments for adult and pediatric cancers.