A Cape Cod man is making a difference one ride at a time.
John Cooper, a retired executive from Sandwich, volunteers with the American Cancer Society's Road To Recovery program, providing free transportation for cancer patients traveling to medical appointments.
A simple act of kindness can make someone's day.
When that act is driving a cancer patient to therapy,
well, that can save their life.
I'd like to introduce you to a Cape Cod man
who's made these trips just about every day of the week.
John Cooper of Sandwich.
...is ready to hit the road for a really important mission.
I'm picking up Carrie and I'm bringing her to a cancer treatment center.
They come all around here.
For six weeks, Cooper picked up Carrie Sullivan every day
and drove her from Sandwich to Plymouth to get treatment.
They discovered a mass on my jaw
and it turned out to be a cancerous tumor.
So it was a...
Pretty heavy duty schedule with six weeks of radiation,
five days a week, the chemotherapy once a week,
and the immunotherapy once a month.
I thought, how phenomenal would that be to help someone?
In their time of need.
Cooper is a volunteer with the American
Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program.
It provides free transportation for cancer patients.
So I'll go up as far as Boston.
I went a little north of that, up to Sagamore.
I'm a psychologist.
And then primarily being on Cape Cod,
there's two primary cancer treatment centers.
You're a new friend, right?
This retired high-tech executive makes
these trips more than just basic transportation.
To me, this isn't like an Uber ride.
If you can pick someone up and they know where they're going,
they're going to a cancer treatment facility.
If I can add a little bit of positivity.
Carrie feels like she's made a friend on these journeys.
If I had to do it all on my own.
It would have been a depressing six weeks,
day after day of driving there for treatment.
But with John, it was like a bright spot of my day.
Developing a plan to treat cancer is an involved and precise process.
Missing appointments for any reason can have serious consequences.
That's making a plan.
And then there's executing the plan.
And if the patient can't actually come into your department,
you can't execute the plan.
And how would you expect to get the outcomes that you're hoping for?
Dr. Ethan Glazner is a radiation oncologist at Cape Cod Healthcare.
He says a program like Road
to Recovery pays other dividends in the healing process.
I think the more we have community,
the greater connections any patient has
to not just their treatment plan,
The surrounding area they're in,
I think it leads to better success across the board.
You get something more.
That's where someone like John comes in.
If I can drop off that patient.
At wherever they're going, at a cancer treatment center,
and they can have a smile on their face, that's an epic win.
Last year, more than 6,000 volunteers provided
almost 90,000 rides all across the state.
On Cape Cod, the road to recovery could only meet three-quarters
of the ride requests.
If you're interested in finding out more about becoming a driver there
or anywhere in the state,
we've put a link up at our website, boston25news.com.
