Thanks to a $50 million gift from Lennar Foundation, cancer patients in the Orange County community will be able to get groundbreaking treatment and world-class care locally at Lennar Foundation Cancer Center, opening in 2022 in Irvine.

Fans who follow Josh Flagg, the 35-year old celebrity real estate agent and star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” were treated to something different on his social media feeds last summer. Amid posts highlighting luxury home transactions appeared heartfelt tributes to his maternal grandmother, Marjorie Platt, who died in July at age 98.

Like so many others, Nancy and Chuck Trudeau have felt the impact of cancer. Nancy’s parents and grandparents each developed cancer at an early age, and Chuck’s father and three grandparents passed away from cancer. “Back then, you couldn’t even say the word cancer — we called it The Big C,” shares Nancy.

“City of Hope is a place that saves lives,” says Chuck O’Shea. “I know, because I’m one of the people whose life they’ve saved.”

For Candace Netzer, the dinner table was the hub of life. Communing with family, friends or clients around a healthy meal brought her endless energy.

Umesh and Aruna Jindal’s cancer journey began in India in 1984, when Aruna, then the mother of two young sons, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and given only months to live. Frightened, the family decided to make the journey to the U.S.  in search of better treatment options. Four days later, they were on their way to City of Hope.

In 2011, Frank Di Bella was diagnosed with metastatic bladder cancer and given three to four months to live by two other notable institutions. Then he came to City of Hope and met Sumanta K. Pal, M.D., assistant clinical professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research and co-director of the Kidney Cancer Program.

Dave Sobel’s philosophy had always been to live life to the fullest. Says daughter Lauren Miller, “His dream was to retire in the Carribbean and spend his days running a boat, a lime wedge in his tropical drink.”

Today, cancer prevention has become more sophisticated, and City of Hope will be leading the way thanks to our new Precision Prevention and Early Detection Program, which launches in Orange County with $1 million in seed funding from the Stanley W. Ekstrom Foundation.