{"id":396731,"date":"2026-09-11T10:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/396731\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T10:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:02:13","slug":"new-shaham-pediatric-cancer-center-to-expand-care-in-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/396731\/","title":{"rendered":"New Shaham pediatric cancer center to expand care in Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patient<\/p>\n

Patient Olivia Montes, center, sits on her mother Macarena Luongo’s lap during the remarks of fellow patient Tristan Milano at the groundbreaking ceremony for the future Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

Helen and Jacob Shaham, founders of the senior-living mammoth The Palace Group, joined Nicklaus leaders Thursday to celebrate and break ground on a building that they say will be the future of pediatric cancer care in the state.<\/p>\n

The soon-to-come home of the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute<\/a> will be a driving force in Nicklaus Children\u2019s Health System\u2019s plans to create a \u201cfuture where no child has to leave Florida for cancer care,\u201d Nicklaus CEO Matthew Love said ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony on the hospital\u2019s main campus near South Miami.<\/p>\n

The institute\u2019s future two-story building, made possible by a $15 million donation the philanthropic couple made two years ago, will serve as a one-stop shop for care. Hospital leaders say it will house everything cancer patients and their families will need, from infusion bays and exam rooms to pharmacy services and access to the latest tech, research, clinical trials and specialty care, including more personalized gene-directed therapy to help find the right treatment for each child, faster.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob Jacob and Helen Shaham express their unwavering support as Nicklaus Children’s Hospital hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, for the future Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute in Miami. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The Shahams are the founders of The Palace Group, a senior-living provider that got its start decades ago as a 21-bed assisted living facility in Opa-locka and has grown into an empire of luxury senior-living operations, including a nursing and rehabilitation center, at-home health and pharmacy services, and several nationally recognized independent and assisted living senior communities across South Florida, including in Coral Gables, Weston, Kendall and Homestead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we continue to push like this … then we are going to find ourselves in five to 10 years a mecca for healthcare,\u201d Jacob Shaham told the Miami Herald at the event. \u201cPeople will come for healthcare, not only to run from taxes from up north.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Hope for years to come,\u2019 patient says<\/p>\n

Love, who described the Shahams\u2019 donation as a \u201ctransformational\u201d gift, said the couple\u2019s philanthropic effort \u201cwill help shape the experience of countless children and families for generations to come.\u201d It\u2019ll help patients like 17-year-old Tristan Milano, a senior at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale. The volleyball player was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a common bone cancer, in December 2024 at age 16 after knee pain sent him to his orthopedist for an MRI, and eventually to Nicklaus for more testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cChemo was tough,\u201d Milano told the crowd. \u201cI was nauseous, exhausted, and some days, I could barely get out of bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

After six rounds of chemotherapy, Milano underwent surgery to remove his tumor and was implanted with an artificial knee, a decision made to ensure he wouldn\u2019t lose his leg. He walked the very next day after surgery. Eventually, he was declared cancer-free.<\/p>\n

\"A A photo of Tristan Milano taken during his 2025 cancer treatment is displayed as guests find their seats at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, for the future Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute in Miami. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Milano is now undergoing monitoring to make sure his cancer doesn\u2019t come back. He feels great. He\u2019s playing volleyball again. Applying to colleges. And planning a snowboarding trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what it feels like to be a scared kid in a hospital bed, and I know what it means when a doctor looks at you and your family and says, \u2018Here\u2019s the plan,\u2019\u201d Milano said. \u201c… Someday, I\u2019ll be the doctor saying, \u2018Here\u2019s the plan.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids who walk through the doors of this hospital may never get to meet you like I did today,\u201d Milano told the Shahams. \u201c … So on behalf of kids like me and the families who come after us, thank you. Thank you for believing in this hospital, the people who work here and, most of all, the kids they take care of. I\u2019m incredibly grateful that Nicklaus was here when I needed it, and because of what you\u2019re making possible here, the hospital will be able to give the same hope for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Shahams, Milano\u2019s story is \u201cthe purpose\u201d of their donation to Nicklaus, according to Jacob Shaham. They know what it\u2019s like to see loved ones fight cancer. Helen\u2019s father died from cancer. So did Jacob\u2019s twin brother.<\/p>\n

They also know how frustrating and difficult it is to travel for care. They had to leave Florida themselves when they were younger, Jacob told the crowd, explaining that Miami \u201ccould not give us the care that we needed\u201d at the time, forcing them to seek care in places like New York and Boston.<\/p>\n

But not everyone can afford to travel for care, especially the families who receive care at Nicklaus, where most of the patients are on Medicaid, a joint state and federal health insurance program that is primarily for people who are low-income. Jacob and Helen Shaham said they want to make it easier for families to access care across South Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided that we are going to do everything possible to bring this healthcare in South Florida to a level that everybody will not need to go out of the state,\u201d Jacob Shaham told the Herald.<\/p>\n

The couple recently gave a $30 million donation to Florida International University\u2019s medical school<\/a>, the largest gift in the college\u2019s 20-year history, to help expand and improve medical education, research and patient care. FIU plans to name its future seven-story academic outpatient medical center after the philanthropic couple.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Nicklaus? \"Abbey Abbey Rose, 6, center, lifts her shovel among others as Nicklaus Children’s Hospital hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, for the future Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute in Miami. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

For Dr. Marcos Mestre, Nicklaus\u2019s senior vice president, chief physician executive and chief clinical officer, the Shahams\u2019 support will help Nicklaus\u2019s efforts to improve access to care in the state so families can get high-quality specialty care closer to home, quicker. It\u2019ll help the hospital recruit more physicians and increase Nicklaus\u2019s capabilities for research, including clinical trials for new treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pushing forward on research and new treatment approaches so our kids get access to tomorrow\u2019s medicine today,\u201d Mestre said.<\/p>\n

Construction of the new Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute is expected to be completed in 2028 and is just one of several efforts in the works at Nicklaus, one of the top pediatric hospitals in the state. Nicklaus, the pediatric teaching hospital for FIU\u2019s medical school<\/a>, also recently took over the former pediatric hospital<\/a> on Broward Health\u2019s Fort Lauderdale campus as part of a new partnership. Nicklaus has also been in talks with Broward Health and Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital in Broward County about working together to potentially create the largest pediatric health network in Florida.<\/a><\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Michelle Marchante<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health\u2019s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald\u2019s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.\u00a0
\n Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patient Olivia Montes, center, sits on her mother Macarena Luongo’s lap during the remarks of fellow patient Tristan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-396731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}