City of Hope Orange County

Jun 13, 2025

Orange County’s only cancer specialty hospital will open on City of Hope’s academic cancer campus in Irvine later this year.

Leslie Bruce Amin will always remember the exact day she learned she had breast cancer: It was her daughter’s sixth birthday. Her path eventually led her to City of Hope, where her doctors and nurses quickly became like family.

Now cancer-free, the New York Times bestselling author and Laguna Beach resident said she’s had a complicated relationship with the word “survivor,” a word she wasn’t sure she earned. “To me, it implied that I was a victim who somehow managed to conquer this heroic feat,” she said. “I felt like a fraud. I'm not standing here because I fought any harder than the men and women — real warriors — who weren't fortunate enough to have the same outcome as me.”

But then she looked up the origin of the word survivor.

“A survivor is simply a person who continues their life,” Amin said, explaining that the Latin root of the word “survive” means to live beyond, to continue life.

Amin shared her cancer journey during a moving event that brought together more than 600 people, including 300 cancer survivors and their loved ones.

“To everyone in the thick of it, to the newly diagnosed, the long haulers, the caregivers who walk this path with us, I see you, I honor you, I’m walking it with you because to survive is not just to win, it is to continue living,” Amin said.

The June 6 event — held during National Cancer Survivors Month — honored the resilience of cancer survivors from across the region, celebrating their achievements, wherever they may be on their journey with cancer. The celebration included a key ceremony for City of Hope Orange County’s new cancer specialty hospital, opening on its academic cancer campus in Irvine later this year.

It began in the morning with a resource fair for patients and the opportunity to write heartfelt wishes on colorful tags and attach them to the giant standing block letters that spelled H-O-P-E.

Hope was visible to everyone in attendance just a few hundred feet away — Orange County’s only cancer specialty hospital connects seamlessly to City of Hope Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center, which opened in 2022. The six-story, 73-bed hospital will receive patients by the end of the year.

As Annette Walker, President of City of Hope Orange County, officially received the key from Damian J. Buessing, regional vice president, Hensel Phelps, the crowd of cancer survivors, family members, Orange County elected officials and others applauded enthusiastically.

“Today is a day for celebration — a celebration of strength, determination, commitment and hope,” Walker said. “This hospital will provide more hope for everyone diagnosed with cancer. It will enable a new level of healing, providing access to all the expertise, breakthrough treatments and pioneering research that City of Hope is known for.”

Buessing said his construction workers were personally invested in the building of the hospital. “These individuals are local residents here,” he said. “They are your friends, your neighbors. They built this hospital for the community. And might I mention, they did it on time and on budget."

The hospital was built in just 34 months — an accomplishment made possible because of support from key partners, including the city of Irvine.

Walker thanked the teams — the construction workers from 80 trades, project managers, architects, engineers, clinical and administrative staff, consultants and Irvine and state staff — who made this possible.

“Together, these teams put in more than 1.2 million work hours,” she said. “If one person had done all the work that has been done since we broke ground in August of 2022 it would take 577 years to complete. Instead, we all rallied together because we have a promise to keep. A promise to you.”

James Mai, Vice Mayor of Irvine, described the significance of the hospital for the city.

“Irvine is becoming a preeminent health care and medical technology hub,” Mai said from the podium. “More than $4 billion is being invested into new health care facilities. We are building an ecosystem in Irvine that will benefit our residents and generations to come. A new era is starting.”

Cancer survivors and their families bonded with one another during the event and talked about their gratitude for City of Hope Orange County. “What City of Hope does is a blessing,” said one man who said he was five years free of throat cancer. “They give people back their lives.”

Michelle Vacca, an eight-year survivor of non-small cell lung cancer, who has undergone several lines of advanced treatment, said she’s grateful to participate in a clinical trial through City of Hope Orange County and for the attention and care she’s received from her entire care team.

The hundreds of cancer survivors and their loved ones walked together down a bright blue carpet, their handbells pealing in a triumphant celebration of life.

Some smiled proudly as they rang their bells, and some were in tears. They were men and women, young and old, and of different nationalities and ethnicities, and all vigorously rang their bell, just as many had done in the halls of the cancer center, signifying the completion of their cancer treatment.

Cancer survivors have plenty to live for — family, friends, work and fun. “Cancer does not define you,” said Edward S. Kim, M.D., M.B.A., Physician-in-Chief, City of Hope Orange County. “You define you.”

Speaking to the guests as they enjoyed their lunch, Kim said his dream would be to open a cancer center and have it empty because cancer no longer existed in the world. But since that is not the reality, he said he takes pride in the fact that City of Hope research is moving the field of cancer treatment forward with new therapies, clinical trials, leading-edge equipment and world-renowned cancer experts.

The new hospital, he said, will have more than 700 employees and volunteers and 52 cancer physicians.

For City of Hope Orange County physicians, the importance of the new hospital is that it allows them to provide the full continuum of care to patients, said Nishan Tchekmedyian, M.D., Deputy Physician-in-Chief, City of Hope Orange County. The hospital will include a state-of-the-art specialty pharmacy that will be supplied with individualized cancer-related medications, he said.

Amin brought home the meaning of City of Hope’s patient-centered care at the conclusion of her remarks. City of Hope cares for her as a person, she said — a daughter, wife and mother who wants more than anything to live to see her children grow up. The day after she rang the bell to celebrate the end of her final round of radiation, she went on a summer vacation with her family.

“Today, I get to stand here because of pioneering science, because of early detection, because of leading-edge treatment, and mostly because I had access to these advances at City of Hope,” Amin said. “Thank you, City of Hope, for giving me the gift of continuing, of living beyond, of surviving.”