Miami-area hospital to get new kids’ cancer center. How Palace founders are involved

Health Care admin September 11, 2026 0 Comments

Miami-area hospital to get new kids’ cancer center. How Palace founders are involved

Helen and Jacob Shaham, founders of the senior-living mammoth The Palace Group, joined Nicklaus leaders Thursday to celebrate and break ground on a building that they say will be the future of pediatric cancer care in the state.

The soon-to-come home of the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute will be a driving force in Nicklaus Children’s Health System’s plans to create a “future where no child has to leave Florida for cancer care,” Nicklaus CEO Matthew Love said ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony on the hospital’s main campus near South Miami.

The institute’s future two-story building, made possible by a $15 million donation the philanthropic couple made two years ago, will serve as a one-stop shop for care. Hospital leaders say it will house everything cancer patients and their families will need, from infusion bays and exam rooms to pharmacy services and access to the latest tech, research, clinical trials and specialty care, including more personalized gene-directed therapy to help find the right treatment for each child, faster.

The Shahams are the founders of The Palace Group, a senior-living provider that got its start decades ago as a 21-bed assisted living facility in Opa-locka and has grown into an empire of luxury senior-living operations, including a nursing and rehabilitation center, at-home health and pharmacy services, and several nationally recognized independent and assisted living senior communities across South Florida, including in Coral Gables, Weston, Kendall and Homestead.

“If we continue to push like this … then we are going to find ourselves in five to 10 years a mecca for healthcare,” Jacob Shaham told the Miami Herald at the event. “People will come for healthcare, not only to run from taxes from up north.”

‘Hope for years to come,’ patient says

Love, who described the Shahams’ donation as a “transformational” gift, said the couple’s philanthropic effort “will help shape the experience of countless children and families for generations to come.” It’ll help patients like 17-year-old Tristan Milano, a senior at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale. The volleyball player was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a common bone cancer, in December 2024 at age 16 after knee pain sent him to his orthopedist for an MRI, and eventually to Nicklaus for more testing.

“Chemo was tough,” Milano told the crowd. “I was nauseous, exhausted, and some days, I could barely get out of bed.”

After six rounds of chemotherapy, Milano underwent surgery to remove his tumor and was implanted with an artificial knee, a decision made to ensure he wouldn’t lose his leg. He walked the very next day after surgery. Eventually, he was declared cancer-free.

Milano is now undergoing monitoring to make sure his cancer doesn’t come back. He feels great. He’s playing volleyball again. Applying to colleges. And planning a snowboarding trip.

“I know what it feels like to be a scared kid in a hospital bed, and I know what it means when a doctor looks at you and your family and says, ‘Here’s the plan,’” Milano said. “… Someday, I’ll be the doctor saying, ‘Here’s the plan.’”

“The kids who walk through the doors of this hospital may never get to meet you like I did today,” Milano told the Shahams. “ … So on behalf of kids like me and the families who come after us, thank you. Thank you for believing in this hospital, the people who work here and, most of all, the kids they take care of. I’m incredibly grateful that Nicklaus was here when I needed it, and because of what you’re making possible here, the hospital will be able to give the same hope for years to come.”

For the Shahams, Milano’s story is “the purpose” of their donation to Nicklaus, according to Jacob Shaham. They know what it’s like to see loved ones fight cancer. Helen’s father died from cancer. So did Jacob’s twin brother.

They also know how frustrating and difficult it is to travel for care. They had to leave Florida themselves when they were younger, Jacob told the crowd, explaining that Miami “could not give us the care that we needed” at the time, forcing them to seek care in places like New York and Boston.

But not everyone can afford to travel for care, especially the families who receive care at Nicklaus, where most of the patients are on Medicaid, a joint state and federal health insurance program that is primarily for people who are low-income. Jacob and Helen Shaham said they want to make it easier for families to access care across South Florida.

“We decided that we are going to do everything possible to bring this healthcare in South Florida to a level that everybody will not need to go out of the state,” Jacob Shaham told the Herald.

The couple recently gave a $30 million donation to Florida International University’s medical school, the largest gift in the college’s 20-year history, to help expand and improve medical education, research and patient care. FIU plans to name its future seven-story academic outpatient medical center after the philanthropic couple.

What’s next for Nicklaus?

For Dr. Marcos Mestre, Nicklaus’s senior vice president, chief physician executive and chief clinical officer, the Shahams’ support will help Nicklaus’s efforts to improve access to care in the state so families can get high-quality specialty care closer to home, quicker. It’ll help the hospital recruit more physicians and increase Nicklaus’s capabilities for research, including clinical trials for new treatments.

“We’re pushing forward on research and new treatment approaches so our kids get access to tomorrow’s medicine today,” Mestre said.

Construction of the new Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute is expected to be completed in 2028 and is just one of several efforts in the works at Nicklaus, one of the top pediatric hospitals in the state. Nicklaus, the pediatric teaching hospital for FIU’s medical school, also recently took over the former pediatric hospital on Broward Health’s Fort Lauderdale campus as part of a new partnership. Nicklaus has also been in talks with Broward Health and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Broward County about working together to potentially create the largest pediatric health network in Florida.