They came together to share in the success of overcoming a life-threatening disease.
To commemorate National Cancer Survivor’s month, the New York Hospital Queens hosted an event that honored patrons of their cancer center who lived to share their survival stories.
“I’m glad to be here to celebrate life,” said Marianne Mello, 60, from Flushing, who survived two bouts of breast cancer in 2006 and 2009 and came to the hospital for treatment.
Queens residents have a cancer center with a host of experts and specialties under one roof. Patients don’t have to stray too far from their homes to visit other comparable centers such as the New York-Presbyterian Hospital or the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.
For many cancer patients – that’s reassuring.
“There’s a kindness and a caring at this institution that I did not find in Manhattan,” said Myra Baird Herce, president of the Flushing Chamber of Commerce in a video message presented at the ceremony. Herce fought off breast and colon cancer with help from the center.
The ceremony not only celebrated the hundreds of cancer patients who survived the disease, but lauded the hospital for their efforts to make survival possible.
“The New York Hospital Queens continues to reach bigger and better heights,” said New York City Comptroller John Liu.
The cancer center received citations from the state legislature and Councilmember Peter Koo, who presented the hospital with one from the City Council.
It also received an outstanding achievement award from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons earlier this year.
What sets the hospital apart from others in the city is the availability of cancer experts under one roof that isn’t available in any of the other borough hospitals, said Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori, director of the cancer center.
“One thing that separates us is that we have a coordinated program,” he said.
The cancer center has specialties that include breast cancer and radiation oncology – giving their patients an array of treatment options.
For some patients, the center provides much more than treatment – it serves as a support system through an oftentimes difficult time in their lives.
Though Mello’s cancer is gone, she comes back to the hospital for check-ups and has a special connection to the hospital staff,.
After the ceremony, she looked through the crowd of about a hundred attendees and hugged and took pictures with the doctors and nurses that helped her defeat breast cancer.
“They helped me through a difficult journey,” she said.
BY VISHAL PERSAUD
vpersaud@queenscourier.com