American Sand Sculpting Competition returns to Fort Myers BeachEnglewood nonprofit gives hope to residents amid hurricane recovery
ENGLEWOOD Englewood nonprofit gives hope to residents amid hurricane recovery Many people in Charlotte County were hit hard by storms this hurricane season, but that won’t stop them from giving back to their community.
NAPLES CSN’s Jayvian Tanelus and offensive line erupt in round one Community School of Naples’ offensive line and Jayvian Tanelus put on a show in round one of the playoffs earning them player of the week.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral family opens home up for the holidays A Cape Coral family has gotten over 1,000 interactions on a Facebook post after opening up their home for the holidays.
SANIBEL Sanibel police trained and certified to catch alligators by FWC Pinning an apex predator down with little more than bare hands and tape: That’s what the Sanibel Police Department went through during alligator-catching certification training.
Southwest Florida welcomes first proton beam therapy center This is a big week in cancer care for patients in Southwest Florida and beyond.
PUNTA GORDA Whats next after Punta Gorda city manager’s resignation? Punta Gorda city manager Greg Murray said he resigned Monday but told the council on Wednesday. Now, Melissa Reichert is the interim city manager.
FORT MYERS BEACH 34th annual American Sand Sculpting Championship begins on Fort Myers Beach After a years long wait, the American Sand Sculpting Competition on Fort Myers Beach returned on Thursday.
CAPE CORAL City council members talk about decision to repeal stipend ordinance A vote of 5 to 3 ends the saga over the Cape Coral City Council stipend and new members of the city council are sending a message they’re doing things differently.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers food pantry provides Thanksgiving meals to neighbors Dozens of people stopped by Sunshine Health’s food pantry one week before Thanksgiving. Sunshine Health is delivering hope.
FORT MYERS BEACH Fort Myers Beach loses FEMA insurance discount The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has placed Fort Myers Beach (FMB) on probation.
FORT MYERS WINK News Game of the Week: Riverdale at Fort Myers Our WINK News Game of the Week is the regional semifinal matchup between Fort Myers and Riverdale, a rematch from the regular season finale two weeks ago.
NAPLES Hope for the Holidays turkey distribution event in Collier County A Naples nonprofit is expected to feed nearly 2,000 families.
Parts of Lee County to keep FEMA discount According to the Lee County Government, residents in parts of Lee County will keep their FEMA discount.
New blue-light system to be implemented to flag red-light runners Green means go, red means stop and blue means you just ran a red light.
New Punta Gorda City Council accepts city manager’s resignation Punta Gorda’s new City Council accepted City Manager Greg Murray’s resignation Nov. 20 and agreed to pay toward hurricane repairs and provide several months of rent abatement to business owners who lease space at city-owned Herald Court. Debi Lux was named mayor and Greg Julian vice mayor by the new-look Council, which saw three incumbents […]
ENGLEWOOD Englewood nonprofit gives hope to residents amid hurricane recovery Many people in Charlotte County were hit hard by storms this hurricane season, but that won’t stop them from giving back to their community.
NAPLES CSN’s Jayvian Tanelus and offensive line erupt in round one Community School of Naples’ offensive line and Jayvian Tanelus put on a show in round one of the playoffs earning them player of the week.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral family opens home up for the holidays A Cape Coral family has gotten over 1,000 interactions on a Facebook post after opening up their home for the holidays.
SANIBEL Sanibel police trained and certified to catch alligators by FWC Pinning an apex predator down with little more than bare hands and tape: That’s what the Sanibel Police Department went through during alligator-catching certification training.
Southwest Florida welcomes first proton beam therapy center This is a big week in cancer care for patients in Southwest Florida and beyond.
PUNTA GORDA Whats next after Punta Gorda city manager’s resignation? Punta Gorda city manager Greg Murray said he resigned Monday but told the council on Wednesday. Now, Melissa Reichert is the interim city manager.
FORT MYERS BEACH 34th annual American Sand Sculpting Championship begins on Fort Myers Beach After a years long wait, the American Sand Sculpting Competition on Fort Myers Beach returned on Thursday.
CAPE CORAL City council members talk about decision to repeal stipend ordinance A vote of 5 to 3 ends the saga over the Cape Coral City Council stipend and new members of the city council are sending a message they’re doing things differently.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers food pantry provides Thanksgiving meals to neighbors Dozens of people stopped by Sunshine Health’s food pantry one week before Thanksgiving. Sunshine Health is delivering hope.
FORT MYERS BEACH Fort Myers Beach loses FEMA insurance discount The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has placed Fort Myers Beach (FMB) on probation.
FORT MYERS WINK News Game of the Week: Riverdale at Fort Myers Our WINK News Game of the Week is the regional semifinal matchup between Fort Myers and Riverdale, a rematch from the regular season finale two weeks ago.
NAPLES Hope for the Holidays turkey distribution event in Collier County A Naples nonprofit is expected to feed nearly 2,000 families.
Parts of Lee County to keep FEMA discount According to the Lee County Government, residents in parts of Lee County will keep their FEMA discount.
New blue-light system to be implemented to flag red-light runners Green means go, red means stop and blue means you just ran a red light.
New Punta Gorda City Council accepts city manager’s resignation Punta Gorda’s new City Council accepted City Manager Greg Murray’s resignation Nov. 20 and agreed to pay toward hurricane repairs and provide several months of rent abatement to business owners who lease space at city-owned Herald Court. Debi Lux was named mayor and Greg Julian vice mayor by the new-look Council, which saw three incumbents […]
New device at Fort Myers clinic makes radiation treatment easier. CREDIT: WINK News Cancer may be a life-changing diagnosis, but, thanks to technology, radiation treatment doesn’t have to be. A Fort Myers clinic is using a new device that makes radiation much easier to tolerate. Harold Fowler is the picture of good health. You might be surprised to know that he has prostate cancer. Thursday was his last radiation treatment. “Today, I rang the bell and got my certificate of completion, and life will resume as it was,” Fowler said. Fowler got the radiation he needed without side effects by using the new MRIdian MRI-guided radiation system that was recently put into operation at GenesisCare, located at 2270 Colonial Blvd. in Fort Myers. “This is the first of several that we’re going to be putting in the United States,” said Dr. Rodney Ellis, a radiation oncologist at GenesisCare. Ellis is Fowler’s doctor and an expert in this new approach. “The difference in this machine versus regular machines is the MRI is running during treatment; it can image up to eight times per second,” Ellis said. “If the prostate moves, it will turn itself off.” Conventional treatments map a tumor and mark it for radiation. However, tumors may shift while patients are on the table. “So you have to make a larger field and treat more tissue to a higher dose of radiation than is necessary,” Ellis said. “There have been studies that have shown with this technology, the toxicity is reduced by 50%.” The machine pauses if the tumor moves even slightly. With other systems, treating prostate cancer exposes the bladder and rectum to unnecessary radiation, which can lead to unpleasant side effects. Using real-time MRI lets doctors zero in on a very small area and give higher doses. “It’s almost quadruple the dose,” Ellis said. “We’re giving about four times as much radiation with these treatments.” A higher dosage translates to fewer visits, another big win for patients. They can get full treatments in a fraction of the time. “Over a three-week period, we did five sessions,” Fowler said. “Monday, Thursday, Monday, Thursday and Monday. We were done.” Instead of up to eight weeks of daily radiation, Fowler had only five sessions in total. This device is such a game-changer that people delayed treatment to wait for the new machine. “I didn’t want to have downtime; I didn’t want to have recovery time,” Fowler said. “I didn’t want my body emaciated, or I didn’t want to lose a lot of weight and this machine, you know, it allowed me to do all of this without tearing me down.” Fowler hardly missed a beat and is happy to leave cancer behind him. This is one of only 28 MRI-guided machines in the U.S. It is a great option for several cancers, including pancreatic cancer, which can be very hard to treat.