Some heal with their hands. Others with their minds. And some, by simply enduring. This space honours the quiet heroes in the fight against cancer. The researchers who push science forward, doctors and nurses who show up with skill and compassion, and patients whose courage is itself a form of healing.
Welcome to the Ministry of Healing.
Dr. Sidney Farber – The Father of Modern Chemotherapy
In the 1940s, children with leukemia were given weeks to live. Most doctors chose comfort over trying.
But Dr. Sidney Farber, a pathologist with a persistent hope, thought differently. He believed chemotherapy could fight cancer—when no one else dared to.
He gave a child a drug called aminopterin. The blood counts improved. Others followed. For the first time, cancer was pushed back.
He later helped create the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. But more than that, he taught us that treating cancer was not foolish hope—it was necessary hope.
He didn’t just treat illness. He restored courage.
Mary-Claire King – Discoverer of the BRCA Gene
Mary-Claire King didn’t just study genetics. She listened to families.
She noticed patterns—mothers and daughters with breast cancer too young, too often. She kept digging. And in 1990, she found it: the BRCA1 gene mutation.
Her discovery gave women knowledge, choice, and power.
Dr. King gave us the gift of foresight.
Henrietta Lacks– The Woman Who Changed Science Without Knowing
She never signed a form. She didn’t know what they took.
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks—a young Black mother of five—died of cervical cancer. Without consent, doctors used her cells in research. But something happened: her cells didn’t die.
They multiplied. And multiplied. And still do.
HeLa cells helped create the polio vaccine. They advanced cancer research, in vitro fertilization, and even COVID-19 science.
Her family only learned the truth years later. But today, her name is known.
Henrietta healed the world without ever being told she could.
Some heal with medicine.
Some heal with insight.
Some heal with sacrifice.