LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- UofL Health is asking for help to build a state-of-the-art cancer center in Bullitt County to expand treatment access for cancer patients across the state. 

Kentucky currently has the highest death rate from cancer in the U.S. and UofL Health - Brown Cancer Center wants to reverse that trend by creating a Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research in Bullitt County to make it easier for out-of-towners to get the care they need. 

UofL Health - Brown Cancer Center has been a resource in Louisville for cancer patients for years. 

"I've been a cancer patient here at the Brown Cancer Center for five years," Margie Baylis said. 

When patients are diagnosed with cancer, they know they have no choice but to fight that diagnosis. That's what Baylis has been doing since she was diagnosed with Stage 4 advanced lung cancer that has traveled to the brain.

Right now Baylis has to make a long, two hour drive from Owensboro to Louisville, every three weeks, to continue that fight. 

She said it's not easy "trying to navigate downtown, the one-ways, they go east, west, north, south. Keeping up with that becomes a lot at the same time trying to deal with cancer and getting treatment." 

Margie Baylis receiving cancer treatment

Pictured: In this frame grab taken from video dated March 5, 2024, cancer patient Marge Baylis talks about the challenges from driving from Owensboro, Ky., to Louisville, Ky., every three weeks to receive her cancer treatments. (WDRB image)

Baylis is not alone in her concerns.

"There's no question that there are patients who do not want to come downtown," Brown Cancer Center Director Dr. Jason Chesney said. 

Chesney said he has heard from other patients who have also been inconvenienced by the center's location in Louisville. 

But that's only part of the reason UofL Health is asking the state for $25 million to expand the Brown Cancer Center into Bullitt County on UofL Health South's campus, which is scheduled for completion sometime this Spring. 

"I don't believe for a second this is about keeping our business out of downtown Louisville," Chesney said, adding that the existing Brown Cancer Center will continue to serve downtown Louisville regardless. "We're dedicated to being down here."

Chesney said the center currently sees about 15,000 patients coming from south, central and western Kentucky. He said patients are coming from 115 of Kentucky's 120 counties. 

"What we're trying to do is get our doctors, our nurses, our pharmacists, our social workers, our multi-disciplinary nurse navigators closer to patients who live out in rural communities and smaller cities in Kentucky," Chesney said.

The new facility would serve as a network base for clinical trials, cancer screening and include enhanced educational programs. Plans call for 20 infusion rooms, five exam rules, an oncology pharmacy, diagnostic imaging suite and an outpatient laboratory. Officials estimate it will be to provide 4,800 infusions in the first 12 months, and treat more than 500 cancer patients each year. 

Baylis is glad to hear she soon may not have to travel as far for her treatments. 

"I'm excited about it because it will be a one-stop facility," Baylis said. "You'll be able to get everything done at one place. There will be no maneuvering one-way streets and trying to figure it out. It will be easier on me."

It's an idea that would expand access to Kentuckians and beyond, especially for patients who one day might end up being diagnosed with cancer. 

"I've gotten what I need to live anymore, and it's time to get out there and give it to everyone else too," Baylis said. 

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