Beaufort Memorial Hospital | Affiliated with Duke University Health System in heart and cancer

Keyserling Cancer Center

Patient Testimonials: Carol Waters

As an experienced interior designer, Beaufort native Carol Waters works hard to help her clients choose the best options for their homes and businesses.

So it was no surprise that, following her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2006, she began a thorough consideration of all of her cancer treatment options. “I would have gone anywhere to get the best treatment, but my radiation oncologist in Savannah suggested that I take a tour of the Keyserling Cancer Center,” she says.

The cancer center had just opened months before, and Emory-trained radiation oncologist Cynthia Bryant, MD, was preparing to head up the center’s radiation therapy program and begin treating her first patients. “My husband and I toured the center and talked to the staff and we were so impressed,” Carol recalls. “We saw the state-of-the-art equipment and just felt like it was the ‘best of the best’ of the equipment in the region.”

Carol ended up being one of those first patients, undergoing six weeks of radiation therapy at the local facility. “Meeting all of the highly qualified staff – all of these people who had all of this experience from other places – we just thought it was incredible to have this kind of facility in Beaufort,” Carol says. “With all of that, and knowing that my life could go in if I could stay in Beaufort and didn’t have to wear myself out by traveling for treatment everyday, it made the decision for us.”

And while access to state-of-the art technology and expertise close to home was important, it was the care she received from the staff during those daily visits that really made a difference. “They totally enveloped me as a person from the moment I walked in the door. They showed me, step-by-step, everything that was going to happen. They were so concerned about my health. They always asked how I was doing, they walked me through my treatment everyday,” Carol recalls. “They were just as concerned about me as my own family.”

Carol says she would always advise someone facing a cancer diagnosis to get a second opinion for peace of mind. “Everyone has to feel comfortable with their treatment, but once that decision has been made, I would tell them that there couldn’t be a better place than the Keyserling Cancer Center.”

Read about other Keyserling Cancer Center patient experiences here.
Learn more about the Keyserling Cancer Center here.