Breast Cancer Patient Shares Story of Hope, Tells Attendees ‘You Have No Idea How Grateful I am for Your Support’
Swing Pink Co-Chair Terry Ingram and recipient of the 2023 Judith W. Dawkins Ambassador of Excellence Award shown second from left, gathers with, second from right, keynote speaker Maggie Chetrit and, from left, fellow breast cancer “thrivers” and past Swing Pink keynote speakers Erica Herbst and Kelly Thomas.
Middletown, N.J., September 29, 2023—The ninth annual Swing Pink luncheon held September 18th at the Navesink Country Club raised record proceeds of nearly $150,000 to benefit cancer services at Monmouth Medical Center’s (MMC) Vogel Medical Campus in Tinton Falls. The five-story, 150,000-square-foot outpatient center, located at the historic Fort Monmouth Myer Center site, is set to open in 2025.
Swing Pink, led by co-chairs Terry Ingram and Debbie O'Donoghue, and supported by the Leon Hess Cancer Center Council, is a day filled with activity, lunch, and celebration. While the morning’s athletic activities were cancelled due to rain, an enthusiastic group of more than 125 attendees joined hospital leadership for the luncheon, which featured an update on MMC cancer services as well as the presentation of the annual Judith W. Dawkins Ambassador of Excellence Award. Recipient of the 2023 award was Terry Ingram, an Oceanport resident who founded the Swing Pink event in 2015 and has been actively involved with MMC philanthropy since 1979, when she joined the Dr. Stanley Nichols Pediatric Auxiliary as the mother of two young sons.
Guest speaker for the event was grateful patient Maggie Chetrit, a Middletown resident who shared her breast cancer journey at MMC since being diagnosed November 1, 2022, with Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer. The 45-year-old mother to 16-month-old Rhys who was joined at the luncheon by her wife Megan and a legion of friends and family members, thanked those in the room for supporting MMC, adding “…it benefits people like me – you have no idea how grateful I am.”
“My world was turned upside down -- I had a huge tumor in my breast, a few near my lymph nodes and more than 26 tumors in my lungs,” she said, adding that when she was diagnosed in her native Netherlands she was told she had only about two years to live. “When I turned to MMC for my treatment, my despair changed to hope. I feel so much stronger mentally and more than eight months into my treatment, I’m being told my future is very hopeful.”
Noting that she travels 40 minutes via Ocean Avenue to get to MMC, she shared how strange it is to take a beautiful drive along the ocean to get treatment that she knows will make her feel sick.
“But you know what? I love going to Monmouth Medical. Every visit I’m welcomed by an array of nurses who always make me smile and feel like I’m a part of their team – I want to say they are the Forrest Gump to my Lt. Dan,” she said. “I couldn’t do this without their support.”
“In the last 9 months I’ve lost my hair, I’ve lost my appearance, I’ve lost my Fridays and my weekends. But also I’ve made friends, I’ve gained confidence, I’ve gained strength,” she adds. “When I am feeling better after my treatments, I work, I play with my daughter and continue building our life. I am doing well and I am determined to be well for as long as I am allowed.”
Together with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, MMC provides close-to-home access to the most advanced treatments including clinical trials. To schedule an appointment or learn more, call 844-CANCERNJ.To learn more about giving opportunities at MMC, visit rwjbh.org/monmouth-medical-center/giving.
About Monmouth Medical Center
Monmouth Medical Center (MMC), an RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) facility, along with The Unterberg Children’s Hospital, is a regional teaching campus for Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. As the first hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties, Monmouth Medical Center offers the most experienced surgeons in robotics and other minimally invasive procedures as well as bariatric and joint and spine surgery. Monmouth Medical Center delivers more babies annually than all other hospitals in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined. The hospital offers access to the region’s top cardiologists and the award-winning, nationally recognized RWJBarnabas Heart Centers. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has conferred Magnet® recognition for Monmouth Medical Center, one of just 509 U.S. health care organizations out of more than 6,300 U.S. hospitals to achieve Magnet recognition. It is the only hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties to consistently receive an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization, and has been named a Leapfrog Top Teaching Hospital three times. MMC is one of just 414 of the more than 6,000 hospital hospitals in the United Stated named to Newsweek's Global Best Hospitals' list for two consecutive years, one of 148 U.S. hospitals named to the digital platform Money’s inaugural list of the Best Hospitals in America, and most recently was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review’s “153 Great Community Hospitals" for 2023.Additionally, it is one of 34 U.S. hospitals honored by the Emergency Nurses Association with the 2022–2025 Lantern Award for excellence in emergency care, and for the seventh consecutive year, was honored by Healthgrades with the Obstetrics and Gynecology and Labor and Delivery Excellence Awards. MMC was also named to Newsweek’s 2023 list of Best Maternity Care Hospitals. RWJBarnabas Health and Monmouth Medical Center, in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey — the state's only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center — brings a world class team of researchers and specialists to fight alongside patients, providing close-to-home access to the latest treatment and clinical trials.
Contacts:
Elizabeth Brennan
732-923-5005
Elizabeth.Brennan@rwjbh.org
Kathy Horan
732-923-6632
kathy.horan@rwjbh.org