QMG Stories

In hon­or of Nation­al Can­cer Sur­vivors Day, we’re shar­ing Steven’s sto­ry. After fac­ing a can­cer diag­no­sis, Steven leaned on the sup­port of his care team, fam­i­ly, and com­mu­ni­ty. Today, he stands as a sur­vivor, grate­ful for every moment and pas­sion­ate about encour­ag­ing oth­ers on their own paths to healing.

In recog­ni­tion of Nation­al Can­cer Sur­vivors Day®, Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) and the QMG Foun­da­tion invite the com­mu­ni­ty to ​“Hope Grows Here,” a spe­cial event hon­or­ing indi­vid­u­als who have faced or are fac­ing a can­cer diag­no­sis on June 1, 2025, from 1 to 3 pm at the QMG Can­cer Institute. 

For Kevin R., Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) has been a trust­ed health­care part­ner through­out his life — from sur­viv­ing a near-fatal child­hood acci­dent under the care of Dr. Wal­ter Whitak­er to receiv­ing ongo­ing ortho­pe­dic and spe­cial­ty care as an adult. Kevin val­ues the long-stand­ing rela­tion­ships he’s built with QMG providers. His expe­ri­ences have rein­forced his belief in the high-qual­i­ty care avail­able local­ly at QMG, mak­ing it his go-to choice for both him­self and his family.

In Novem­ber 2023, Gerald’s health rapid­ly declined due to micro­scop­ic polyangi­itis, lead­ing to kid­ney and lung fail­ure. After some time with in-cen­ter dial­y­sis, he and his wife, Therese, explored peri­toneal dial­y­sis (PD) through Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG). With sup­port from QMG’s team, Ger­ald tran­si­tioned to home dial­y­sis, which improved his qual­i­ty of life and allowed him to trav­el again. 

When Kathryn and Adam wel­comed their son Reece into the world, they were met with uncer­tain­ty fol­low­ing his diag­no­sis with an extreme­ly rare genet­ic con­di­tion. As Reece faced com­plex med­ical chal­lenges, his fam­i­ly won­dered if the care he need­ed could be found close to home. Through the sup­port of their pedi­a­tri­cian and ther­a­py team at Quin­cy Med­ical Group, they dis­cov­ered not just expert care, but a com­mu­ni­ty of providers who became true part­ners in Reece’s journey.

Our fifth and final annu­al award recog­ni­tion is for the QMG Ris­ing Star Award and it was pre­sent­ed to Natal­ie D., Patient Access Coor­di­na­tor. Recip­i­ents of this dis­tin­guished award demon­strates out­stand­ing promise in their respec­tive field, exhibits lead­er­ship and integri­ty in serv­ing patients and the com­mu­ni­ty, cul­ti­vates col­lab­o­ra­tion amongst their team, and dis­plays curios­i­ty, cre­ativ­i­ty, and diver­si­ty of thought to cre­ate change and make an impact in field of healthcare.

Our fourth QMG Annu­al Award recog­ni­tion is for the Ris­ing Star Award and it was pre­sent­ed to Chase M., Reg­is­tered Phar­ma­cist in Infu­sion Ther­a­py. Recip­i­ents of this dis­tin­guished award demon­strates out­stand­ing promise in their respec­tive field, exhibits lead­er­ship and integri­ty in serv­ing patients and the com­mu­ni­ty, cul­ti­vates col­lab­o­ra­tion amongst their team, and dis­plays curios­i­ty, cre­ativ­i­ty, and diver­si­ty of thought to cre­ate change and make an impact in field of healthcare. 

Joan­na Shipe’s health jour­ney began after her father’s mas­sive heart attack and con­ges­tive heart fail­ure diag­no­sis dur­ing her col­lege years. She left school to care for him, but his pass­ing became a wake-up call that high­light­ed the toll neglect­ing her own health had tak­en. Inspired by her father’s resilience, Joan­na com­mit­ted to trans­form­ing her health. Through weight loss surg­eries, revers­ing dia­betes, and stay­ing active, she achieved sig­nif­i­cant mile­stones despite set­backs. Con­cerned about her fam­i­ly his­to­ry of heart dis­ease, she sought care from QMG providers, includ­ing Dr. Divya Batra and Dr. Adam Rafi, who helped her address severe heart block­ages. Joan­na cred­its their com­pas­sion­ate sup­port for her progress and remains moti­vat­ed by her father’s exam­ple, embrac­ing the fight to pri­or­i­tize her health every day.