One day in 1955, Dr. James Grace’s two-year-old son, Jimmy, spiked a fever of 105°. It was the first sign that the little boy had acute leukemia — a fast-moving disease that in those days had no hope of a cure. When his son died only a few months later, Dr. Grace converted his pain to passion.

As we celebrate the 120th anniversary of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, we recognize that what we have accomplished would have been impossible without the financial support of our community.

Even if tumors are detected after they become cancerous, colorectal cancer is still very treatable and slow to develop. Patients can take some time to decide which treatments are best for their situation and shouldn’t feel like they need to rush into an immediate treatment decision.

In the 1950s, nothing much could be done for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dr. Jim Holland was determined to change that.

On January 29, the Food and Drug Administration approved a lutetium Lu 177 dotatate (Lutathera^®), a targeted radiation drug, for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

The idea of building a cancer hospital in Buffalo first came to light just three years after Dr. Roswell Park opened the doors to the world’s first cancer research laboratory.

In 1990, during my nursing clinical rotation here at Roswell Park, I declared, “This is it. This is where I want to work.” Nearly 28 years later, I am still here and still look forward to coming to work every day.

Learn how the vision of one remarkable man led to the creation of the first institution in the world to focus exclusively on cancer.