Jim Gero donated $10 million, which staff said they hope will help advance cancer treatments.
BREWER, Maine — Northern Light Cancer Care announced Wednesday morning that the organization is receiving a $10 million donation to advance its treatments—making it one of the largest single donations the health care center has received.
"This is a big deal. This is a transformative gift," Ava Collins, president of Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, said. "We can continue to provide advanced care, cancer care, to our patients."
Jim Gero made the donation after losing his wife, Cathy, to cancer in 2022. The hospital will receive $1 million every year over the next 10 years.
“He knows firsthand the importance of continuing to support and grow a program like this," Collins said.
Jenifer Lloyd, principal gift officer at the Northern Light Health Foundation, said she hopes Gero's donation can lead to finding a cure for cancer.
"It's his hope, and it's mine that we will see in our lifetimes less chemo and more cures," Lloyd said.
The money will go particularly toward integrating more genomic medicine, according to Northern Light Cancer Care Medical Director Sarah Sinclair. She called the idea of chemotherapy "a thing of the past."
"When we talk about genomics, it's about understanding what particular mutations exist in a tumor," Sinclair said.
Sinclair said that understanding of mutations will allow them to provide targeted therapies to eliminate the cancer.
"The way we think about medicine is changing rapidly every day," she said.
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