KANSAS CITY, Kansas, October 9, 2008 (AP) - A suburban Kansas City couple gives $1 million to the University of Kansas Cancer Center to help in its pursuit of National Cancer Institute designation.

The university on Thursday announced the gift from Floriene and George Lieberman of Leawood, Kan., to fund a leadership faculty position in the Phase I clinical trials program. The gift will establish the Floriene and George Lieberman Family Professorship.

When as Floriene Lieberman was battling breast cancer 32 years ago, no NCI-designated cancer center existed in the area. Instead, she and her husband traveled from Kansas to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for treatment.

The woman said getting treatment in one's own surroundings is far better than boarding a plane "hurting and scared" and staying in a hotel room.