DISNEYS DONATE CANCER FUNDING $10 MILLION GIFT FOR NEW CENTER.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

BURBANK - After a lifetime of using its services, Roy and Patricia Disney announced Tuesday that they'd be returning the favor to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in the form of a $10 million donation.

Roy Disney remembers being one of the hospital's early consumers. He was treated for a concussion after a fall down the stairs at home in the early 1940s. His parents died there; his children visited for their early medical care; his famous uncle Walt died after a bout with lung cancer in one of its rooms in 1966.

To continue the association in a far different way, the entertainment executive-turned-dissident shareholder and his wife donated nearly one-third of the cost of the hospital's new freestanding cancer center. The Providence Saint Joseph Foundation will use the gift to break ground on the $33.1 million structure, set to open in fall 2007.

``I don't want to be their customer again,'' Roy Disney said. ``There will always be folks who need this, though. This will save more lives and ease the suffering of those who are there.''

Providence calls the four-story, 55,000-square-foot building the most comprehensive cancer center in the San Fernando Valley. The hospital has been trying to raise money since April 2004, pulling in $22 million in corporate and individual donations. The Disneys gave the largest amount to date, leading Providence to name the center after them.

Currently, doctors are spread out in the medical campus at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Buena Vista Street. With everything from diagnostic imaging to chemotherapy to acupuncture under one roof, Dr. Chester Wilson Jr. predicted treatment would run more smoothly.

``It enables us to create an environment that's very nurturing for patients and their families,'' said Wilson, medical director of radiation oncology. ``Everything they need while they journey through cancer, we'll have it in one place.''

When Henry Polic was diagnosed in 2003, he had to visit different departments to get his chemo, radiation, acupuncture, Chinese herbs and hypnotherapy. With a dedicated center to encompass all the specialties, the Valley Village actor-director predicted the center would be a boon for future patients.

``Having the history they've had, with the equipment they'll put in there, they've got all the tools to make you feel better about the process,'' he said.

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com