Manteca’s $17 million Valley Cancer Medical Center became a reality Friday night when Dr. Amarjit Dhaliwal cut a traditional red ribbon at the front door of his new two-story facility in Spreckels Park before a crowd of over 100 guests.

His family was there – two sons and two daughters as well as extended family members and his brother Harry who is a citizenship judge in Canada.  His medical peers were there in large numbers too.  He received special Congressional recognitions from U.S. Representatives Jeff Denham and Jerry McNerney.

Dhaliwal is obviously dedicated to his patients, and at the same time he has managed to be there for his wife Rupe and their four children despite his busy schedule. 

Three of those kids are grown, out of the house and proven successes. The fourth is still at home – a 14-year-old eighth grader at St. Stanislaus School in Modesto.  Son Amrit is an accomplished basketball player, as well as being an outstanding student, who wants to be an oncologist someday just like his father.

Dhaliwal never misses one of his son’s basketball games and plans to be there with him today when his Panthers’ competitive team plays the Eagles in a Salida tournament.  The two also spend time together just shooting baskets at home.

“Dad will cancel his meetings before he will miss one of my games,” the boy chimed Friday night at the ribbon cutting and open house.

“He talks to me a lot because I am the only one at home,” he said.  “But we talk a lot about politics as a family, learning that we need to look for good leaders to head the country.”

The young teen said he sees countries around the world fighting amongst themselves for more power, wanting to gain dominance over other nations around the globe.  He said he also strongly favors background checks for people buying firearms.

“It seems like every 100 to 200 years a different country is dominant,” he said.

He likes American history a lot, he said, because it teaches him how the country came to be from its earliest beginnings.  Amrit said he and his dad are very close and have many give and take chats about life, politics and his future in medicine, if that is what he chooses.

The teen, who rarely misses a two-pointer from the hardwoods, pretty much has his future planned out.  He is going to enroll at Central Catholic next for his four years of high school and hopefully will go on to Cal Berkeley as a premed student.

But it doesn’t end there . He wants to go into a medical oncology practice in his dad’s footsteps.  Amrit said he is determined to later go into politics and attempt to make a difference in the country, where he feels good leaders are necessary for the sake of mankind.

At St. Stanislaus Elementary School, Amrit has been on the student council for the last two years – first as its athletic director and this year being in charge of hospitality.  St. Stanislaus is located right next door to Central Catholic.

Dhaliwal and his family members along with his partner Dr. Robert Levy were busy welcoming guests last night as they were touring the new facility that will actually be opening in the first week of March.  Office equipment still has to be moved across the parking lot from their present sites.

“We have the most comprehensive Cancer Center in the area,” Dhaliwal said.  “The communities were desperate in their need for such a facility with its state-of-the-art Varian Medical Systems radiation equipment, CT scans, simulation and planning, a fusion room and nine medical exam rooms.”

It boasts having a $3 million linear accelerator used in radiation treatments.

Dhaliwal noted that having the Doctors Hospital Imaging Center on the same campus complements his cancer center and provides complete cancer care for patients at one location.

The main floor of the 32,000-square-foot cancer center contains numerous offices in addition to the exam rooms and a large medical conference room to be used for medical treatment discussions.

The center is located on Norman Drive just west of Spreckels Avenue adjacent to many other medical practices and a medical lab.  Both Doctors Dhaliwal and Levy will continue to see patients in their Modesto offices as well in the future.



To contact Glenn Kahl, e-mail gkahl@mantecabulletin.com