Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 40 APRIL 2019 eir anthem begins, "With music as our voice, come together, heal, and rejoice." For 10 years, Voices of Hope has done just that— used the powerful impact of impassioned musi- cal performances to raise awareness and funds to support cancer research. Voices of Hope was founded by Greg Chastain of Winchester in 2009 after he lost his mother to pancreatic cancer. While deal- ing with his grief, Chastain found support from his friends and fellow performers, who shared their own stories of loss. Realizing how many are touched by can- cer, he wanted to do something to try to make a difference in the fight against this dreaded disease. "I decided to put on a little show," says Chastain. "is one-time concert to honor my mom was produced and performed by my closest friends to raise money for can- cer research. From that performance—which raised $17,000—I knew that this was too powerful to be a one-night-only event." Today, with more than 150 volunteer members, along with friends and allies who support the cause, Voices of Hope has raised over $600,000 for cancer research. The group's inspirational performers, whose lives have all been affected in some way by cancer, share stories of hope, loss, and courage through song, dance, and testimonials. Their performances offer an intimate look at their passionate commitment to fight cancer. "When people talk about cancer, they usu- ally reference fighting or surviving it in the positive sense…but Voices of Hope allows the people we touch to experience the triumphs in our daily journeys," says Dana Siegal of Stoneham, executive artistic director for Voices of Hope. " You can be in the audience and find some piece of joy you had forgotten you had the ability to feel because you were trapped in your anger, suffering, or grief." Since 2013, Voices of Hope has directed all of its donations to the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The Termeer Center offers a com- prehensive research program to speed the discovery and delivery of targeted therapies to patients with early- and advanced-stage cancers. Their goal is to reduce the average drug development time from 10 to 5 years Mary McDonald is the owner of Tinkerhaus. The space has a variety of tools to create works of art such as sewing machines and 3-D printers. L I V E + P L AY PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF VOICES OF HOPE Voices of Hope perform all around New England. and improve access to therapy for patients. "The efforts we have undertaken in the past several years, accelerated by Voices of Hope's support, have allowed us to under- stand why it is that one patient responds to a therapy so much better than another," says Keith Flaherty, MD, director of clini- cal research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. You may have heard Voices of Hope singing the National Anthem at Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox games, or performing at Boston's Symphony Hall or the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade. The group's most frequent performances, however, have been at the North Shore Music Theatre. The group takes over the stage in Beverly for fundraisers twice each year—once in the spring for a musical