Believing that anyone living with cancer and its treatment could use an uplifting and joyful experience, Dr. Lori Wirth connects them with Sailing Heals, a group that offers patients and their caregivers a memorable day of healing on the water.
Medical director of the Center for Head and Neck Cancers at Mass General Cancer Center, Dr. Wirth, an avid sailor herself, serves on the group’s board and wholeheartedly backs its mission, to provide patients with “a spirit-lifting day at sea.”
One young woman recalls missing her favorite activities such as hiking and skiing while undergoing chemotherapy. Dr. Wirth recommended Sailing Heals. A month later, in June, the patient and her husband joined the group’s first sail of the season out of Marblehead, Mass. “It was wonderful,” she writes, “and the moment marks the moment when I started thinking about all the things that I could do, not what I was missing.”
Susan Holden writes, “Dr. Wirth saved our daughter Amy’s life. She provided amazing care and formed a partnership with Amy and her loved ones. At the end of treatment, Amy and her husband enjoyed a splendid day with Sailing Heals.”
Not every grateful patient takes a sail. Se June Hong writes, “Dr. Wirth was caring and thorough throughout the many complications of treating me for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. She gave me a strong sense of being under the best of care.”
