The SIH Cancer Institute unveiled its Donor Wall Thursday.
Special recognition was given to Cynde and David Bunch, owners of Walker's Bluff, for their 500-thousand dollar gift.
Cynde Bunch is a former nurse who is extremely impressed by the care provided at what she believes is going to be a world class center for area patients.
"If you are touched by cancer, the opportunity to have treatment and be able to recover here, and not have to drive two hours to St. Louis, back and forth, four or five times a week, is to me the most important thing."
She says the cancer institute has a special place in her heart.
"The best outcomes are access to care. The fact that we have this in our backyard and have that access, so that if we're unfortunate enough to be touched by this horrible disease, that we can have that care and have it easily without having to drive or without having to wait."
Southern Illinois Healthcare CEO Rex Budde says donations like this are indications of how important this specialized care is to the region.
"When people like Cynde and David, who have a great vision for southern Illinois and want to invest in southern Illinois, show their faith in you to do something like that, it's just enjoyable."
Much of the gifted and pledged money so far has been used to help pay for the construction of the facility. But, Budde says they want to start using donated funds to help support patient services.
"Starting to increase our funds to support the care for people who have no insurance, don't have some of the basic needs. We have the Coach Kill Fund. We have different things that we do to help provide for hotel rooms, gas and those kinds of things."
The Cancer Institute experienced a 30-percent increase in volume during its first year of operation, totaling over 12-hundred patients from southern Illinois and neighboring states.
To date, the fundraising effort for the SIH Cancer Institute stands at $5.7 million in funds pledged and gifted to the SIH Foundation.
