Lahey Hospital News

Thousands of people have participated in the Lahey Cancer Institute 5K Walk & Run over the last 14 years, raising more than $3 million for cancer research, enhanced programming, equipment and services, and more.

Great medical care for a Lahey patient over the past thirty years has led to the funding of a brand new inpatient dialysis unit at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center. Funding for the Christopher Y. Ying, MD, Dialysis Unit, which has six dialysis beds, was donated by Robert J. Shillman, a patient of Dr. Ying’s since 1990.  As a token of his gratitude, Shillman named the unit in his honor. 

Kneeling by the side of her bed at just 13 years old, Diane Bainbridge made the same request to the heavens every night for eight months. “I can remember praying every night that my mother would live.” Her mother, MaryAnn, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35 and died less than a year later, leaving the adolescent Diane and her sister without a mother. Now that she’s a mother herself, Diane is participating in the Lahey Cancer Institute 5K Walk & Run in order to raise money for cancer programs and services.

It’s probably not news to you that most of us aren’t sleeping enough. Doctors recommend getting eight hours every night, but the average person gets seven or fewer. The reasons why are complicated and varied, Lahey neurologist Paul Gross, MD, told the crowd during a recent free public lecture. The key to getting a good night’s sleep is good “sleep hygiene,” said Dr. Gross,

The walls of the Schwartz home in Andover are covered with colorful, abstract pieces of art. It’s not because Michael and Janet Schwartz are art buffs, though they do appreciate it. Their son, Alex, 25, has autism and uses art as a form of therapy that teaches him independent thinking and ways to express himself. Now two of his works will be featured in Lahey Hospital & Medical Center’s Healing Art Program.

What started with a letter from a grateful patient became a hospital-wide effort to beautify Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and create a calming space for patients. More than 1,000 pieces of art were installed this year in hallways, waiting areas and patient rooms as part of a philanthropy-funded Healing Art Program —  their beautiful images of nature inviting patients and visitors to linger, relax and feel better.

Getting a diagnosis of Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer could have ruined Priscilla Westaway’s 49th birthday and the rest of her life. But she refused to let it. “When I decided I was going to do something, I said, ‘I believe anything and everything is possible,’” Priscilla explained. “If you believe, you can make anything happen.” That is why she named her charitable foundation The Believe Anything and Everything is Possible Foundation.

At 33, Josh was active and healthy, working construction by day, and tinkering with his dirt bike into the night. But in 2016, he started to feel more tired than usual and then his skin started to turn yellow. Josh’s wife pushed him to go to a  hospital near their home in Western Massachusetts. A few days later, Josh got a deadly diagnosis.