Cancer Care Services has been providing cancer support services in Tarrant County continuously since its beginning as the Fort Worth Cancer Society in the summer of 1946, when it was founded by Rice Tilley, Mayor Roscoe Carnrike, Cecil Morgan, Dr. May Owen, James R. Record and 24 other prominent individuals.
It became the Tarrant County unit of the American Cancer Society in 1948 and joined the United Way in 1952. The Tarrant County unit ceased its affiliation with the American Cancer Society when ACS withdrew from the United Way on a nationwide basis in 1959. The Tarrant County unit reactivated itself as the Fort Worth Cancer Society. In 1962, the name was changed to include Tarrant County.
In the early 1970s, the agency began the first breast and cervical cancer screening clinic for females in Tarrant County and paid the salary of the first oncology nurse at John Peter Smith Hospital in the mid 1970s. In 1989, after careful study and research, it was determined that a complete name change was warranted. Cancer Care Services was chosen as a name that would identify the agency as the caregiver it is.
Services were offered outside Tarrant County for the first time in April 1997 when Parker County patients were provided assistance with funds raised in Parker County. In September 1998, Hood County residents began receiving services as well. CCS moved to its new facility in the medical district of Fort Worth in January 2003. This new location provides space to greatly expand the emotional, social and spiritual support services that are offered at no charge.
All funding to provide services is raised locally.