Lean On Me Breast Cancer Network Inc. was initially established as a New York State non-profit organization in May 2000 by Dr. Dwight DeRisi, Donna DeRisi, Sharon Pape, Ursula Thall, and Gerry Accardo. Its goal was to provide one on one peer support for women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer by pairing them with volunteer survivors from a physician's practice. To date, the Lean On Me peer support program has trained over eighty volunteers and has helped  thousands of patients.

Since its inception, Lean On Me Breast Cancer Network Inc. has expanded its programs and services and now includes several forums for information and support.

Lean On Me Breast Cancer Network Inc. has been designed to provide patients and their families with access to a comprehensive set of resources, free of charge, in order to manage their diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. However, we know all too well that there is much more "inbetween" those three words, so our hope is to positively impact the overall quality of each patient's life.