Lynne Alston, a Glenside resident, cancer survivor, business consultant, motivational speaker, and co-chair of a community advisory board at Temple Health’s Fox Chase Cancer Center, was featured by The Philadelphia Inquirer for speaking out against federal research funding cuts.
Alston’s professional titles include Director of Patient Care at RxWound and founder/CEO of the HUGS Around America Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to breast cancer awareness and support.
She is also the author of the 2018 book “A Hug Saved My Life™: My Journey to Live“.
Alston participated in a clinical trial that saved her life after she found a lump in her breast 11 years ago. She later received chemotherapy treatments at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. You can watch her Survivor Message below:
The Center is funded by the National Cancer Institute, an entity which is overseen by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would cut 40% of NIH’s budget in fiscal year 2026, The Inquirer said.
“Because of research that was federally funded, I am standing here today,” Alston said at an American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network news conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday, August 26. “Survival is what research makes possible, and survival gave me a new purpose. I now champion the very clinical trials that once gave me my second chance.”
PBS reported last week that the Supreme Court voted to allow the Trump administration to cut $783 million earmarked for research funding. Nature.com reported that the court’s decision “derailed researchers’ efforts to reinstate almost $2 billion in research grants issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).”
“The court’s decision on Thursday represents a remarkable reversal, allowing the administration of US President Donald Trump to proceed with science cuts it began in late February,” Nature.com wrote.
In 2019, Alston published an open letter titled “Why I’m grateful for researchers” to the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group during breast cancer awareness month. An excerpt:
As a cancer survivor I find myself thinking about the many different people who have benefited and will continue to benefit from researchers’ quest to cure cancer and other devastating diseases. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to share my journey to live with my pink brothers and sisters. My journey to live encompasses highs, lows, laughter and tears. However, the most important part of my journey was the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial. Just the thought of being able to move different cancer treatment options forward, through a clinical trial, was the least I could do.
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Photos: LinkedIn, ahugsavedmylife.com