University of Alabama at Birmingham started construction on a $22.5 million project to replace its Comprehensive Cancer Center's aging radiation treatment facility.

The cancer center's "Rays of Hope" campaign is approaching its $15 million goal to help build the state-of-the-art building. A $1 million gift from Birmingham's James "Jim" Limbaugh was announced at groundbreaking ceremonies today, bringing the current total to $11 million, from private gifts and other sources.

The 50,000-square-foot, two-story structure will be connected by overhead walkway to the UAB Hospital across 18th Street South near Sixth Avenue. The Hazelrig-Salter Radiation Oncology Facility, expected to be completed in 2008, will allow the transfer of linear accelerators and other treatments from the 31-year-old Wallace Tumor Institute into a modern, patient-friendly building with separate waiting areas for children and adults. The radiation oncology department also will be located in the new building.

Edward E. Partridge, M.D., acting director of the UAB Cancer Center, said, "This building will indeed offer substantial rays of hope to the people of Alabama who require radiation for their cancer. We are extremely grateful to the 400-plus people who have already contributed to the project and to the community leaders spearheading the drive."

UAB president Carol Z. Garrison thanked campaign co-chairs Foots Parnell, Barbara Royal and Dianne Mooney "for their remarkable dedication and energy in leading this initiative. We are also most appreciative of the efforts of their 15-member committee and for all the volunteers who are helping with this endeavor." She noted that the UAB Cancer Center Supporters Board raised more than $1 million for the facility from its 2006 Gala.

Mountain Brook businessman W. Cobb Hazelrig donated the largest individual gift so far-$5 million-to name the facility after his parents, Virginia and the late J. William Hazelrig, and their longtime friends, Birmingham physicians Paul and Merle Salter. Merle Salter, now retired, chaired the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology from 1986 to 1995.

Jim Limbaugh's million-dollar donation in part will fund an open area adjacent to the new building that will provide a fountain, benches and green space for patients and families. It will be named the James Limbaugh Family Park of Hope, In Memory of Phyllis Limbaugh. The name honors Limbaugh's late wife, who succumbed to lymphoma cancer in 1981. Limbaugh, now retired, has owned four successful automobile dealerships in the area. His son Bruce is the owner of Limbaugh Toyota.

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