Mary Ellen Freesland had created a life where freedom and independence were not just important, but essential. She was a fine artist living in the creative-filled community of Alexandria, VA. Mary Ellen had begun her career in healthcare, but in retirement, she now specialized in oil paintings of Japanese landscapes. In her spare time, Mary Ellen had become a fully certified, professional dog trainer, and now had 6 dogs and their owners under her dutiful instruction.
Then in February of 2023, Mary Ellen began experiencing pain in her throat and was having trouble swallowing. After visiting her primary care physician at VHC Health in Arlington, she was referred to a gastroenterologist to investigate the issue. Mary Ellen was concerned, having survived bilateral breast cancer and complications from the treatment a decade earlier.
Mary Ellen’s doctors found a tumor in her esophagus, even though they were looking for something in her stomach. She understood her new diagnosis – Stage 3 esophageal cancer – was different, “This time it seemed much more serious to me. There was squamous cell carcinoma on the lining of my esophagus. We did not know if surgery was even going to be possible because the cancer was directly below my larynx. The pain was extreme. The surgeon warned me that this procedure had an extremely high mortality rate.”
As her cancer progressed, she faced greater and greater challenges in her everyday life. Swallowing even water and saliva was excruciating, as the tumor grew to fill about 1/3 of her throat. She grew more isolated as her immune system was compromised by chemo and radiation, limiting her contact with others, “it could only be by telephone contact because I couldn’t take a chance of catching a cold.” And while some friends kept away to prevent contagious disease, others kept their distance to avoid facing Mary Ellen’s mortality, “Some of my friends withdrew a bit because they didn’t want to have this experience of me saying ‘bye-bye’.”
But despite her previous brush with cancer, the severity of her new diagnosis shook her emotionally, “I hadn’t experienced anything that gave me that kind of fear. This is the end of my life.”
Her doctors told her that this type of Stage 3 cancer was unusual, and Mary Ellen knew that remission was unlikely. Her care teams at Virginia Hospital Center in Alexandria and Virginia Cancer Center in Arlington closely coordinated to accommodate and manage her demanding treatment schedule. Her doctors knew she needed proper nutrition for the chemotherapy and radiation regime to be effective, so they referred her to Food & Friends for medically tailored meals specifically designed for conditions like hers.
Mary Ellen put her work and her life on hold to focus on treatment; paying bills, buying groceries, and doing her taxes on time all felt exasperating. The home-delivered, medically tailored meals and groceries from Food & Friends were a godsend. “At the time, I couldn’t go anywhere, and I hadn’t set up some sort of way to ask friends to go and get food. And I didn’t have the energy to prepare it myself,” Mary Ellen explained.
“At the beginning [of treatment], I was told I could only have soup, beef broth, things like that. When I found out all the options Food & Friends had, I was so appreciative and astonished. I was shocked at the elevated level of professionalism at Food & Friends. They have dietitians on staff and a wide variety of various meal options. I was able to have soft foods, and even the option of pureed foods if things got worse and I could not swallow,” she recalls.
Mary Ellen’s dietitian Jennifer Krasilovsky, RD helped her navigate the nutritional benefits of different meals and decide what fit best in her treatment plan, “It’s not like you just sit and then you point to the one you want. You talk with real people who are knowledgeable about what would be best for you. It’s not just getting the meals – it’s the counseling!”
Mary Ellen understood how important well-calibrated nutrition was in her treatment, “Especially at the beginning when I could just do soup-type things, you could feel the difference that was making. That was a lifesaver because I could get nourishment.” Getting the proper nutritional support helped Mary Ellen avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency room and long hospital stays, a common hurdle faced by those undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.
Beyond the nutrition that helped sustain her through treatment, the social and emotional support that Mary Ellen found from Food & Friends’ staff volunteers was essential, “They all made a personal connection. Seeing a person and then having them bring soup. It just made me feel part of life. It brought me back from that feeling of isolation.”
Mary Ellen’s optimism carried her through the difficulties of both her disease and the treatment. Later in 2023, her doctors performed a PET scan and the radioactive tracers showed that her cells were healing and had even begun to absorb the proper nutrients. Her diagnosis read, “near-complete regression.”
She was so ecstatic with the results that she reached out to the client services and nutrition services teams at Food & Friends. She shared, “Every single person I contacted and those who I encountered were all lovely. There were several times when treatment dates changed, and I needed to reschedule. They accommodated everything right away. Their customer service is incredible.”
In the months since her cancer went into remission, Mary Ellen has reclaimed a missing sense of normalcy in her life. This week, she was finally able to complete her taxes from 2022. And she’s looking forward to picking up her paintbrush again.
Mary Ellen has come to believe that the support she found from Food & Friends was about much more than just a meal, “Food & Friends was, and still is, as important to me as the doctors. That tells you how big a difference they made. They never missed a date. You were still connected with people when you couldn’t be, so it was a total physical and emotional support.” Mary Ellen has fond memories of receiving a special birthday cake in September.
Mary Ellen began her service with Food & Friends on May 5, 2023 and stopped service on September 26, 2023. She is grateful for the expert care of her oncologist Dr. Keeran Sampat and social worker Won Cho, both with Virginia Cancer Specialists who supported her throughout her recovery.
The Cancer Action Coalition of Virginia identifies nutritional and social support as key links in the ongoing battle against cancer, especially due to the social determinants involved with prevention, treatment, and care. The services provided by Food & Friends and other community health workers help patients with “improving health literacy, increasing awareness of and access to lifestyle change programs and preventive services, and assisting patients in accessing medical services.”1
One of the core values of Food & Friends is accountability, and at every level of our organization, we are accountable to our clients, donors, volunteers, staff, and the public – with unwavering integrity of program services and financial standards.
Mary Ellen is one of over 5,000 D.C. area neighbors living with a serious illness like cancer that Food & Friends will serve this year. You can help provide life-sustaining medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling to our clients with a donation today.
- Page 24: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/27/2023/07/CACancer-Plan-2023-Single-WEB-FINAL-1-23.pdf