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Welcome to the official website of Breast Cancer Help, Inc. This website is a grassroots resource for information and activism in the fight against breast cancer on Long Island, New York. Years of hard work and ongoing effort by breast cancer survivors, their families, friends, and communities have made a serious and positive impact in our fight against cancer. Learn about what you can do to win the battle for our bodies and our lives. If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, get the support you need to help you overcome the challenges presented by your disease.
While a cure for breast cancer continues to elude us, much has been accomplished to increase awareness and improve the quality of healthcare that breast cancer patients receive. We have been able to achieve this by gaining support from local elected officials and raising money through fundraising efforts.
Breast Cancer Help, Inc. is a not-for-profit grass roots organization with a focus on action and advocacy to eradicate breast cancer. Founded in 1994 by Lorraine Pace, a breast cancer survivor, and Father Thomas Arnao, the group promotes education and awareness of breast cancer issues on Long Island and elsewhere in New York State. Pace was also the founder of the West Islip breast cancer mapping project, which pinpointed breast cancer clusters. This original mapping project, which spearheaded the breast cancer environmental movement, has now spread to other parts of New York, the U.S. and abroad.
Since its inception, Breast Cancer Help, Inc. has taken a multi-pronged approach to combating breast cancer on Long Island. The organization has worked to mobilize citizens into breast cancer coalitions leading to breast cancer mapping projects; worked to bring cancer education into our schools; served as advocates to change state and local laws to preserve our environment; and worked to strengthen the rights of breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Help has also worked to ensure that Long Islanders have access to the best possible medical diagnosis and care through the purchase of radiosurgery equipment and lease of a digital mammography unit at Stony Brook University Hospital.
In March of 2003, Breast Cancer Help opened its Long Island Cancer Help and Wellness Center. The Center represents a partnership between Breast Cancer Help, Inc. and the Village of Lindenhurst, a municipal government with a long history of support of grassroots efforts to find the causes and a cure for breast cancer. The goal of the Long Island Cancer Help and Wellness Center is to provide increased cancer awareness to promote early detection, while providing patients and survivors with needed support.