"Life is full of things you don't think you can do until you do them"
Welcome!
The Lynn Cancer Association is an independent non-profit organization contributing to the advancement of cancer education and community programs on the North Shore. Supported solely by donations and bequests, we allocate funds entirely to the needs of the community for treatment of patients with cancer and education of medical personnel and the public.
Our Mission
Our mission is to help provide North Shore Hospitals with modern equipment for treatment of cancer, educate the public regarding symptoms and treatment of cancer, and to further the education of medical and para-medical personnel engaged in the treatment of patients with cancer.
Origin
The Lynn Cancer Association, Inc. has an interesting history. It is the outgrowth of the Education Committee of the Lynn Cancer Clinic which was established under the Cancer Control Program enacted by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1926. Lynn Hospital was approved by the State Department of Public Health for the third diagnostic clinic in the state and began operations in April 1927. Area physicians have staffed the clinic for the past fifty years. The Education Committee was composed of lay people who worked diligently to publicize symptoms of cancer through the news media, public meetings, informative programs in the public schools and service clubs meetings. Outstanding specialists in cancer treatment came as speakers from Boston as well as from New York City and Baltimore. Because Union and Lynn Hospitals provided only surgical treatment for cancer patients at the time, funds were needed to transport patients to Boston for radium and X-ray therapy. In 1937 a Radiation Fund was started and completed in 1942 with the purchase of a deep X-ray machine of 250,000 voltage.
A bequest of $3,000 was given for radium in 1943. Accordingly, it became possible for patients to be treated in Lynn for most types of cancer and Lynn Hospital was approved by the American College of Surgeons as a treatment center as well as diagnostic.
Mrs. Carolyn Engler, chairman of the Radiation Fund, became chairman of the Education Committee. During her tenure the committee was incorporated as a charitable organization - Lynn Cancer Association, Inc. - receiving its charter in March 1944. Mrs. Engler served as its first president.