Maryann MacIntyre, a banking executive who rises every day at 4 a.m. to catch a 5:30 ferry from her south shore home and begin work in Boston at 6:30, enjoys crossing off tasks from her lengthy “to do” list. So when she became a cancer patient at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) last year, she simply added chemotherapy and radiation to her busy schedule, checking them off as she completed them.
MacIntyre claims her cancer story is ordinary. “I was fortunate that cancer found me at a time when we were financially secure and my children were old enough to be self-reliant. Many other cancer patients have greater challenges. My diagnosis came just in time, and I had superb care from surgery to oncology.”
Her experience might seem ordinary to her, but MacIntyre is anything but. Her husband, Roderick, says his wife “soldiered on” during her cancer care. “She is conscientious and courageous in her family life and business life. If she was troubled by her experience, she would never let on,” he comments.
Today, the high-energy, previously private MacIntyre is volunteering at Dana-Farber and agreeing to share details of her treatment publicly. “When cancer happens, this is the place to be,” she says. “I found so much competence and compassion here, I wanted to give back.”
The Beginning
MacIntyre’s tale began in summer 2005, when she began such violent vomiting after a restaurant lunch that she thought she had food poisoning. At a visit to her primary care physician for an unrelated problem, she mentioned the vomiting; the doctor ordered blood tests and an endoscopy.
The result? Stomach cancer. “It was unreal,” MacIntyre recalls. “I had no symptoms. I felt fine and my appetite was good. Most of my stomach was removed, and now eat smaller portions. Luckily there was no spread.”
After her surgery, she consulted several oncologists to decide whether further treatment was needed, and was most impressed by Dana-Farber’s Pankaj Bhargava, MD. “He asked me about my goals, listened to my thoughts, and treated me as a partner in the discussion,” she says. “I told him I had two children and did not want this cancer to come back.” Supported by her husband and daughters, she chose to undergo chemotherapy and radiation while continuing to work full time.
‘It’s all about you’
Her husband, himself an upbeat prostate cancer survivor who says he regarded his own disease as an adventure, admits he cried to himself upon learning of her diagnosis. “I had just gone through this, and I envisioned our children being orphans,” he recalls. “But after the initial shock, I thought, buck up, it’s going to be another adventure.”
The kinship MacIntyre felt for her fellow cancer patients inspired her to join the Adult Patient and Family Advisory Council, a group of patients and survivors who partner with staff to enhance patient-centered care at DF/BWCC. She is also a volunteer for One to One, a program that matches current patients with volunteers who had a similar diagnosis and can offer guidance by phone.
MacIntyre enjoys her volunteer role at Dana-Farber because of its contrast to her work in the finance arena. “We say in banking that we are customer-focused, but really, it’s usually about the bottom line. Here, everyone is truly focused on the patient. It’s a pleasure to go from an environment where people often feel ‘it’s all about me’ to one where they feel ‘it’s all about you.’”
