Nancy Jean Barnabei and her husband, John Masciantonio.
Nancy Barnabei is a numbers person. As a consulting chief financial officer in the biopharmaceutical industry, she’s used to quantifying data. So when at age 40, Nancy was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer, she took a close look at her odds.
“My chances for survival were less than 10% within two years,” Nancy said. “I knew I had a better chance of survival because I was going to Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC), where I would get the newest treatments and the best oncologists and surgeons. In my mind, I came up with my own number that was higher than what was being published.”
For Nancy, Penn medical oncologist Daniel Haller, MD, (now emeritus professor CE of medicine), was also a constant source of hope. Under his guidance, she underwent a strenuous nine months of treatment, including two surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
Helping every step of the way was the ACC’s gastrointestinal nurse navigator Trish Gambino, RN, MSN. “Right away, my husband, John, and I found her simpatico, and appreciated what a special human being she is,” Nancy shared.
Excellence Delivered with Compassion
For some 18 years, Trish has been supporting patients through their cancer journeys as a member of the ACC’s Patient and Family Services care team. They educate patients and help coordinate the healing process, with the goal of delivering compassionate care in an inevitably stressful situation. Nancy was especially impressed that Trish enlisted student volunteers from area colleges to help obtain grants from organizations who fund patients undergoing cancer treatments.
“My husband and I thought this was just amazing, and I told Trish that at some point I would like to come back and help,” says Nancy who, true to her word, spent months volunteering her analytical skills to help create a model for tracking the grant acquisition process. She also spent a lot of time talking to patients—sharing her story and listening to theirs—an experience she found “very grounding.”
Lending a Hand
Nancy also learned about the tremendous financial need that many patients face, which is why she and John now donate to the Patient and Family Services Special Needs Fund. It helps patients pay for a range of items, including utility bills, groceries, and travel expenses for getting to and from treatments, such as gas, tolls, and train passes.
Nancy knows that she was lucky, not having had to worry about money while undergoing treatment. Lucky, too, to have beaten those odds. Nearly 15 years after her diagnosis, she’s cancer-free, visiting Penn Medicine’s Ursina Teitelbaum, MD, occasionally for check-ups and scans.
But her connection to the ACC remains, and she feels strongly that all patients deserve compassion and hope in the midst of what they are going through—inspiring her decision to give back. “Once I returned to work full-time, and was unable to volunteer, we still wanted to help the patients who are most burdened financially, and hopefully give them some room to breathe,” she said.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Early detection is key. Knowledge is power.
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