John Wayne Cancer Institute

In October, they hold a SUP event at NewPort Beach to raise money for the John Wayne Cancer Research group (please correct me if I am mistakes).
SUPs (stand up paddling) boards are donated to use for the event by various shops. We get access to the NewPort harbor and the 2 beach clubs to eat, drink, and mingle during the 5 mile SUP route. It’s a workout but a mighty fun one. At the end we have a costume contest and winner wins a brand new SUP board. So amazing.
I have met cancer survivors and amazing new friends who support the cause just as much as I do. Please continue with creating awareness and fighting cancer.

All All I will say now is that JWCI may have been great 20 years ago. Today it is a decrepit organization of fancy expensive equipment and fancy expensive doctors who don’t have the slightest clue about how to treat a patient or how to manage disease process.
i lived there for almost 4 months in the hopes they could do something for my son’s melanoma. I saw from a very intimate perspective the utter incompetence… not of individuals… but the incompetence of the organization.
This organization is totally disease-​centric looking for more and more research grant money. They have no idea how care for a patient as a total organism. They have no idea how to be proactive… only reactive. only reactive to episodic disease events.
They allowed my son to become irretrievably malnourished. They allowed severe electrolyte imbalances to cause fluid build up, heart anomalies, kidney failures, dehydration. They allowed him to suffer extreme pain with no intervention until we damn near made threats if they didn’t bring in a pain specialist. They made no effort whatsoever to relieve 2 liters of fluid build up around his heart and lungs. They made no effort whatsoever to deal with nourishment, mobility, pain, electrolyte imbalance,… even hygiene was ignored.
If you go to JWCI you better bring your own primary care physician and your own 24-​hour nurse staff to coordinate the care of your loved one because these people are either fossilized cranks who practice in very narrow alleyways of medicine or self-​serving, self-​aggrandizing researchers who are just looking at disease process to pad their next statistical analysis for a research grant proposal.
If you want specifics. glad to oblige… just call me or email. I would hate to see a really sick person go there and expect results. All you’ll get is bill for a million and a half dollars for them to fiddle with chemicals and watch your loved one as if they were a test tube experiment. To be fair, there are individual staff members who are not only competent but extraordinary. But they cannot perform due to work overload and organizational restrictions. I do thank them for their efforts.
My son died two weeks ago. as much from melanoma as from appallingly neglectful and incompetent care. You’ve heard of patients «falling through the cracks»? JWCI is the Grand Canyon of cracks.
John F
330−527−9970

Was I wrong to wear my spurs here?
This place is one of those gems like MD Anderson in Houston. This place literally saved my white ass.
I was diagnosed with skin cancer (melanoma) and had surgery a few weeks back. Because it was on my ear [read: close to my supremely powerful brain] the doctors needed to excise the cancer ASAP. That required the deletion of a good portion of my ear and a simple reconstruction. I was bummed, but to stay alive, it was a small price to pay.
The doctors and nurses were unbelievable. Dr. Mark Faries was my surgeon and is considered the top melanoma surgeon at this institute. His patience, knowledge and compassion is something that I’ll never forget. I’m going to write another review about he and his practice on Unilocal.
Don’t half step. If you or a loved one have a cancer scare of any kind, this is the place to go, as they are professional, kind, expedient and thorough.