New Moffitt At Wesley Chapel Cancer Center Opens

The new Moffitt at Wesley Chapel will provide a more convenient cancer-fighting experience with the same great care provided by the Moffitt Cancer Center’s main campus in Tampa.

The long-awaited Moffitt Cancer Center satellite campus in a new building on the site of AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) has opened, with a quiet virtual ribbon cutting three days before services started officially being offered on Feb. 15.

Called Moffitt at Wesley Chapel, the new facility fills a major hole in the area when it comes to receiving cancer treatment. As one of only 50 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, the Moffitt Cancer Center has gained national acclaim over the years for its research and patient care.

“I am excited that Moffitt is getting closer to our patients,” said Dr. Tim Kubal, medical director at Moffitt at Wesley Chapel. “This is also a great opportunity to innovate the way clinical care is provided at Moffitt.”

Moffitt’s cancer care will occupy nearly 28,000 square feet of the new, three-story, 100,000-sq.-ft. building, which is located in the Healing Plaza on the south side of the campus of AHWC, near the Shops at Wiregrass.

The facility, which broke ground in May 2019, features 20 exam rooms, 22 infusion chairs, three blood draw stations, two linear accelerators and a CT Simulator. 

The TrueBeam linear accelerator above provides image-guided stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy with high precision to treat tumors and lesions in various parts of the body, including lungs, breasts, head and neck. It is a part of the new technology available at the new Moffitt at Wesley Chapel facility .

Patients will be able to access blood draws, infusions, medical oncology, radiation and surgical oncology consultations at the new location, whereas they previously had to drive to Moffitt’s North Tampa campus on Magnolia Ave. for such services.

Diagnostic imaging services also will be available at the new building, with the imaging services provided by AdventHealth, and Moffitt’s team of expert radiologists reviewing the images for interpretation.

Patients can expect to receive the same outstanding cancer care for which Moffitt is highly regarded.

“There are going to be some things that we only do at the main campus, (such as) super complex surgeries and things like that, which are typically going to be done at the Magnolia campus (at USF),” Dr. Kubal says. “But, the bulk of cancer care is diagnosis and treatment. It’s figuring out what’s going on with you, giving you chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and all that can be done here in Wesley Chapel.”

By partnering with AdventHealth in Wesley Chapel, Moffitt has created what is sure to continue being a popular model for health care in the future.

“One of the most exciting new things about this hybrid model of care in partnership with AdventHealth is that with this multi-specialty model, we are able to bring our experience of research closer to the community,” says Dr. Vania Phuoc, one of the center’s lead hematology/oncololgy physicians. “We’re hoping to bring clinical trials out here to Moffitt at Wesley Chapel by the end of the first year after we open.”

The new building’s services include malignant and benign hematology, the full breadth of solid tumor oncology, gynecologic oncology, endocrinology and more. More services will be added in the future, based upon the needs of the community.

The convenience for those fighting cancer, as well as for those who have family members fighting it, is huge, Dr. Kubal says.

“There are a lot of people up here (in Wesley Chapel), and this is an area that is growing very rapidly,” he says. “A lot of younger families and people are moving from up north. They want to transfer their care but don’t necessarily want to live on the USF campus (where the main Moffitt Cancer Center is located). They want to live in the Villages, they want to live up in Wesley Chapel off of Curley Road. So, we’re up here because we want to get closer to the patients without them having to come all the way to us.”

Moffitt Cancer Center also is expanding into central Pasco, recently receiving approval to build an extension on 775 acres at the intersection of the Suncoast Parkway and the Ridge Rd. Extension, which is currently under construction.

Phase 1 of the project will include a $60-million, 125,000-sq.-ft. business park, which will be completed in five years and create nearly 450 jobs.

And, Moffitt also is building a $400 million, 128-bed hospital on 20 acres across McKinley Dr. from Moffitt’s Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Outpatient Center, a short drive from the original Moffitt campus at USF.

For more info, visit Moffitt.org.

Ramma-Lamma-Lamma! Singalong With ‘Grease’ On Mar. 13!

Gary gets ready to sing “Beauty School Dropout.” (Photo by Charmaine George)

When the musical “Grease” hit Broadway back in 1972, my best friend’s Doug’s dad, an investment banker, purchased 10% of the show and basically has been getting paid every time any of the songs from the smash hit show (and yes, even the 1979 movie with the same name, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John) are performed.

The good news, for a certain young wannabe performer, was that Doug’s family took me to see that show at least six, seven or ten times before the summer camp I attended in upstate New York put on “Grease” as our summer production in 1974. 

And, even though I didn’t get to star as Danny Zuko — the role created on Broadway by Barry Bostwick (later, the silver-haired mayor on the Michael J. Fox TV sitcom “Spin City) and reprised by Travolta in the film — despite being the only kid in camp who had memorized every word of every song, I did get to play both Teen Angel (played by Frankie Avalon in the movie) and Johnny Casino, with two solo songs (“Beauty School Dropout” and “Born to Hand Jive”).

Therefore, when I heard that the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel (the club Jannah and I belong to, which meets for lunch at noon every Wednesday at Omari’s Grille in the Lexington Oaks Golf Club) was going to put on a free, socially distanced “Grease is the Word” Singalong event (on Saturday, March 13, 4:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., at Land O’Lakes Heritage Park, 5401 Land O’Lakes Blvd.) — starring deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office against firefighters from the Pasco Fire Rescue department — I knew I had to get involved.

To kick off that involvement, I re-created my role as the Teen Angel (in full costume; photo) at a recent Wesley Chapel Rotary meeting, which was enough to get me an invitation to sing the song again at the “Grease” singalong” event.

I’m obviously pretty excited about the opportunity to be on hand as a part of my childhood is revisited once again, and I hope that at least some of you reading this also will attend — even though my Rotary Club is located in Wesley Chapel and the deputies and firefighters competing (for three prizes; I’m pretty sure I’m not eligible) are from Pasco County, because not only is “Grease” the word — it’s also a heckuva lot of fun!

And, speaking of fun, here are some fun trivia questions about one of my all-time favorite musicals:

1) How many Tony Awards did “Grease” win in 1972?

2) Who played Rizzo in the original Broadway cast and what TV show did she begin starring in 1972?

3) What hit song sung by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the “Grease” movie was not in the original Broadway show?

Answers:

1) Zero. The original show, which held the record for longest-running Broadway hit (later broken by “A Chorus Line,” was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, but did not take home any hardware.

2) Adrienne Barbeau, who played Maude’s daughter Carol on “Maude.”

3) “You’re the One That I Want.”

New Tampa Rec Expansion Debuts Today

The much-anticipated and long-awaited expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC) in Tampa Palms, which dates all the way back to the day the facility debuted in 2008 with a waiting list of more than 1,000 kids, has finally come to fruition.

Today at 3:30 p.m., almost two years to the day of the expansion’s groundbreaking on April 12, 2019, the NTRC will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reopen with 7,300 square feet of extra space, featuring three new rooms (convertible to five, with partitions) that will provide new space for gymnastics and dance instruction, community meetings, adult and senior fitness classes and athletic training.

The expansion cost roughly $2.6-million, after years of budget battles that saw the long-planned project get passed over in 2012 and again in 2016.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who as the District 7 Council member, helped rally New Tampa residents, led by Tampa Palms attorney Tracy Falkowitz, to show up at the budget deliberations in 2017 and implore the Council to keep the money in the budget for the project.

The end result will expand not only the NTRC’s profile, but also its reach.

“We’re known for gymnastics and dance classes, but the expansion makes us more than that,” said Heather Wolf-Erickson, the athletics, aquatics and special facilities manager for the City of Tampa’s Parks & Recreation Department, who took us on a tour of the new add-on prior to the March 3 opening. “Kids are one aspect of a family, but we also wanted to give the parents that sit here during the practices an opportunity to do some fitness classes and other things, too.”

Wolf-Erickson also is excited about offering classes for older residents, as well as space for community gatherings and meetings. All of that will be available in the first multi-purpose room you pass upon entering the expanded facility, which has a partition to give it more flexibility to host two classes at once.

“We can get a little more creative with what we can offer (now),” Wolf-Erickson says.

The “fun” room

Next to that room is what Wolf-Erickson calls the “fun” room — a new mini-gym for those just starting out in gymnastics, typically ages 5-and-below.

The space was designed for “the littles” who, until now, had to share space with the bigger kids in the NTRC’s large 12,500-sq.-ft. main gymnasium. Now, instead of being lost in a forest of taller gymnasts, the younger kids have a great new space of their own.

“It’s easy to get distracted (in the main gymnastics area),” said Linda Hall, Site Supervisor II for the City of Tampa. “When the big kids are in there, they’re doing big kid (moves) and it’s easy (for the younger kids) to get distracted.”

Also making the new room unique is the equipment itself, like the rings and parallel bars, which are smaller to fit smaller hands. And, an inflatable trampoline and foam ball pit are used for practicing jumping and flipping.

“Everything is catered to them,” Wolf-Erickson says of the new room. “We’re not teaching them any big gymnastic moves in here, we’re working on upper-body strength, hand-eye coordination and patience. When kids have fun learning and doing physical things, they’re more apt to come back.”

Adjustable Batting Cage, Too

Wolf-Erickson says her favorite room is the 1,760-sq.-ft. rectangular training “box,” which resembles popular, more rustic training facilities that look like warehouses, with large fans, a garage door that opens and even a batting cage that is stored above the floor and can be lowered with the press of a button.

Baseball and softball athletes will be the obvious beneficiaries of the batting cage, but when the cage is suspended above the floor, the area can be used for almost any kind of training, from football to soccer to any kind of fitness and weight training. It also will come in handy on rainy days.

“This space is going to get used and used and used,” Wolf-Erickson said. “When designing it, they asked, ‘What are you going to do there?’ We said we’ll show you. It’s just a little bit more different than what we’ve done here. (This room) will be more open to the community.”

While technically part of the NTRC expansion, the training box is practically its own separate space. It has its own climate control, separate from the rest of the facility, and the door leading in from the rest of the expanded spaces can be locked down, with a door leading outside (and inside, monitored by a keypad) for those who are training later than regular building hours.

“We can have this open 24/7 without impacting the staffing requirement,” Wolf-Erickson said. “It is its own space, with its own restroom. It was pretty well thought out.”

In fact, all three of the new spaces have their own restrooms, and there will be another bathroom that can be accessed from the playground, a touch sure to be appreciated by parents.

The two rooms with dance and gymnastics also have multiple large windows for parents to watch their children, similar to the rooms in the main building.

After years of having to turn folks away, or at least put them on a waiting list that had as many as 1,800 kids on it, Wolf-Erickson hopes the new space gets children off the waiting lists and helps free up more room for more students to sign up. Pre-Covid, the NTRC had more than 4,000 class slots programmed each week, and saw nearly 8,000 gymnasts and dancers receive training every year at the popular facility. 

Wolf-Erickson said she wants to see the community, from beginners all the way to seniors, utilize the facility for exercise, training and other events. While all those things may be offered at other places in the area, Wolf-Erickson says the plans for the pricing and community memberships at the NTRC are still being finalized, “But we believe it should be affordable, and we won’t be out-priced here,” she says.

For more info, call (813) 975-2794 or visit Tampa.Gov/parks-and-recreation/activities-recreation/gym-and-dance/new-tampa-center.

Is tonight the night for Zach’s Second Shot At ‘American Idol’?

Wiregrass Ranch and “American Idol” alum Zach D’Onofrio (with girlfriend Catie Turner) has earned a second chance to be on the ABC-TV show.

If you remember Zach D’Onofrio’s first appearance on ABC-TV’s “American Idol” in 2018, we have news for you.

You ain’t seen nothing yet.

The kid that gave socks to the judges, danced with Katie Perry (see photo on next page) and then wowed with his voice — when it transformed from Kermit the Frog to Frank Sinatra to earn a golden ticket — is now older and wiser and back on the show.

The Wiregrass Ranch High graduate, who now attends Florida Southern College, will appear on the audition shows in the coming weeks. He did not appear in the season premiere, which aired locally on Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. on  WFTS-TV, or the second episode. He hasn’t been told when his episode will air. But he did leave a teaser on his Instagram this weekend.

So, what happens this time? A lot.

But we can’t tell you.

Just like last time, Zach has been sworn to secrecy until the episode airs. His family, a good friend and his girlfriend know, and we are privy to a few of Zach’s twists and turns this time around, so we could tell you, but then we’d have to…well, you know how the saying goes.

Zach’s return to “Idol” actually began in August when he signed up for Zoom auditions. The producers instantly recognized him, and he sang “No Fire” by S. Grant Parker while playing the ukelele, and the following round, sang the same song and also played piano while singing “Places We Won’t Walk” by Bruno Major.

Zach wasn’t sure he had passed, especially when August passed, and so did September. Then, a friend received a rejection email, so Zach thought he might still be alive. In mid-October, he finally got word that he was headed to Ojai, CA — which is in Ventura County about 90 minutes northwest of Los Angeles — for live auditions the first week of November, and mum’s been the word ever since.

“It’s kind of fun keeping the secret,” Zach says.

Although it was his second time in front of judges Lionel Ritchie, Luke Bryan and Perry, Zach says he still felt a little trepidation about his second chance.

“I was pretty nervous seeing the judges again because it’s been so long,” he says. “When I walked out, they were like, ‘Oh, we know Zach.’” He sang “Golden Slumbers” by the Beatles. 

“And, that’s pretty much all I can tell you,” he says, chuckling.

A lot has changed since Zach, then a squeaky-voiced 16-year-old who had only started singing a year before, was cut following the first competition in Los Angeles.

He returned to Wesley Chapel, won a few singing competitions, graduated from Wiregrass Ranch and was accepted into the University of South Florida, where he was going to study biomedical science and become a doctor one day.

But, “American Idol” had awakened something in him. He wanted to hone his singing skills. He wanted to help make music. He wanted to follow what had become his passion.

After one year at USF, Zach, now 20, transferred to Florida Southern and is now a music management major. He says he would like to manage artists one day, help them with auditions and, of course, cut his own first album. 

“I think only reason I wanted to be a doctor was because they make a lot of money, but would that make me happy?,” Zach says. “(Being on) ‘American Idol’ made me happy. Singing made me happy. I liked the performing and talking to fans. So why not commit to music fully?”

Why not try “American Idol” again?

The last thing Zach told us in 2018 after his surprisingly quick end on the show was that he was encouraged by fellow contestants to try again — and he told them he would. And, that thought has always stuck in his head. 

His girlfriend, Catie Turner, was on the show with Zach in 2018 and finished sixth. While she can’t compete again, she never stopped encouraging Zach to try.

“It’s always been kind of stuck in the back of my head that I would go back and try again,” Zach says. “It was inevitable. I want to prove to myself that I can do it again. My goal was to make it farther this time than last time.”

Zach says being in California during the pandemic was concerning, especially making the trip out there. But, with Covid-19 tests every other day, and the threat of being sent home if you tested positive, Zach says the auditions were smooth. Each contestant was encouraged to stay confined to their room. 

“It was kind of like house arrest,” Zach jokes. “But I felt safe the whole time. Everyone wore masks. You won’t see people wearing them while on stage, but anyone who wasn’t singing at the time had masks on.”

Zach says people still recognize him in public as the “American Idol,” though most seem to remember his affinity for socks. But his “socks appeal” is gone, and this season’s version of Zach might be best described as “sweater late than never,” as he makes his return with a different style. 

 As for the rest, Zach says you’ll have to tune in on Sunday nights.

Yo Murphy Performance Expands To Wiregrass Ranch

Yo Murphy (right) is hands-on when it comes to training athletes trying to get to the next level.

Llewellyn Murphy, Jr., better known as Yo to Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ fans, remembers tearing his quad muscle in 2001. But, with the help of a performance therapist and fitness coach, Murphy was able to get back to playing wide receiver in time to help the St. Louis Rams make it to Super Bowl XXXVI on Feb. 3, 2002, which the Rams lost to the New England Patriots, the first Big Game win for QB Tom Brady.

Murphy, who played seven games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1999 and was an electric kickoff returner, says he didn’t have a Plan B at the time, but the rehabilitation experience and how it helped him play four more seasons of professional football crystallized one for him.

“It showed me how much value that has, and how much impact you can have on someone’s life when you do this job and focus on what they need,” Murphy says. “I just fell in love with it.”

Murphy ended up becoming the only player ever to play seasons in the NFL, Candaian Football League (CFL), the XFL and NFL Europe. He also is the only player to suit up for the Super Bowl, Grey Cup and World Bowl championship games. Murphy is now a 15-year veteran of the performance training industry, and is expanding from his Westchase location to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County.

Yo Murphy Performance should be up and running later this month.

At the 11,000-sq.-ft. Westchase location, 38 professional and professional-to-be athletes train as part of his clientele, including Washington Nationals outfielder Kyle Schwarber, Kanasas City Royals first baseman Carlos Santana, 2020 Heisman Trophy winner Devonta Smith (from the University of Alabama) as well as NFL hopefuls getting ready for the NFL combine, like Smith’s teammate at Alabama, DT Christian Barmore and speedy Auburn WR Anthony Schwartz.

While prepping professional athletes for a combine or upcoming season may be a specialty, Murphy says his training center also caters to a few hundred “corporate,”  as well as more than 100 youth athletes.

“We treat the regular dude like a serious athlete,” Murphy says. “People get in ruts when they just go to the gym (to go). The only difference between the athlete and the regular dude is, while in the gym training, athletes have a start and an end date. We are good as humans when we have goals and we have deadlines and we have discipline involved. That’s what we focus on. We treat everyone the same.”

Murphy says he was alerted to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus by his director of basketball, Darryl Hepburn, who Murphy says has held NBA combines but saw a need for a facility with more courts. Once Murphy visited, he saw the Wiregrass Sports Campus, with its 98,000-sq. ft. of indoor space to be “a perfect fit.”

Yo Murphy Performance caters to the serious athlete, whether professional or amateur. The Wiregrass Ranch location, he says, will offer memberships for adults, and even offer 1-on-1 training and combines for those corporate athletes.

Expect a fair share of professional athletes to be sharing that space as well. Murphy said NFL wide receivers like Diontae Johnson (Pittsburgh), Deon Cain (Baltimore) and Auden Tate (Cincinatti and a Wharton High in New Tampa graduate) all live near the facility and plan on training there in the offseason.

Murphy expects a more than two dozen NFL players to make Wiregrass Ranch their training home now that the Super Bowl LV is over. 

For additional information about Yo Murphy Performance, visit YoMurphy.com.