Cancer center remembers woman

LORAIN — Mercy Health, a Lorain-based cancer center, has a new moniker thanks to a donation from the O'Brien family. The facility will now be known as Mercy Health O'Brien Cancer Center in memory of Stacey O'Brien Artino, 49, of Lorain, who died of complications from her own cancer diagnosis in December 2021. Her family, including her parents, Patrick and Janet O'Brien of the namesake Chevrolet dealerships — which operates several locations in Erie County — donated to the health system in her honor. Scott Pember, president of the Mercy Health — Lorain Foundation, said he has known Pat O'Brien for more than 30 years and initially from working in advertising at a local paper after college. He remembered picking up ads from Mullinax Ford when the paper's advertising director was on vacation. "Pat was an interesting character then just like he is right now," Pember said. "But he left an impression on me. And, over the last four years, we've had different conversations about different types of things with Mercy Health. And this naming of the cancer center is a transformational gift." The O'Briens' undisclosed donation will help further the center's goal of providing state-of-the-art care to all its patients, he said, including the poor and underserved. He said the O'Brien family has been involved in numerous charities over the decades, all while Pat O'Brien's business grew. Pat O'Brien began his career in the automotive industry in 1970, working for Ed Mullinax of Mullinax Ford in Amherst, which later became the largest Ford dealership in the company. Pat O'Brien later began his own Chevrolet dealership, growing to five locations and becoming the largest Chevy dealer in the country, Pember said. The family was not without its challenges, he said, including the loss of Stacey O'Brien Artino at her home after a long battle with cancer, leaving behind her parents, siblings, husband and children. "I understand that one of Stacey's passions was, like her mother, making rosaries and helping the poor — so much like our mission," Pember said. "It seems fitting that Stacey's legacy will live on to help so many with the challenges of cancer." Ben Kosewski, director of the Oncology Service Line, acknowledged the work done in the Schadden Road office and the service providers treating patients within its walls. "It means a lot to have the O'Brien family provide a transformational gift that we can accelerate what we've been doing here and take it beyond to unimaginable heights," Kosewski said. He said the patients who come to the cancer center often lack resources — talking with social workers and nurses for gaps in not only their medical care but their day-to-day lives. "So gifts like from the O'Brien family are doing things that we can provide for our patients to make sure that they can get their care every day," he said. The program is accredited by the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer, a recognition it has held since 1991, according to a Bon Secours news release. Its care includes prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, lifelong follow-ups for recurrent disease and end-of-life care. Mercy Health — Lorain expanded its services at the Schadden Road office after University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center moved its oncology services to a new office in Avon in 2021. Call 440-324-0400 or visit mercy.com for more information on the Mercy Health — Lorain O'Brien Cancer Center and its treatment options.