New York woman diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer at 34 died at 38; her campaign’s first round relieved $44.9 million in medical debt for 51,000 Americans

Casey Ryan McIntyre, a 38-year-old mother from Brooklyn, New York, turned her own experience of cancer care into a campaign to ease the burden of medical debt on other families. Diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer at 34, she died on November 12, 2023. Before her death, she arranged a fundraiser to buy and abolish other people’s medical debt, recognising that many Americans lacked the access to good medical care she had received.According to Undue Medical Debt, the campaign’s first round abolished $44.9 million in debt affecting about 51,000 people across nine states. The first round used approximately $300,000 of the more than $1 million raised. The fundraiser began with an original goal of $20,000.Casey McIntyre helped abolish $44.9 million in medical debt for 51,000 peopleThe first round of Casey McIntyre’s memorial campaign abolished $44.9 million in medical debt affecting approximately 51,000 people. The relief was announced on January 16, 2024, by Undue Medical Debt. Approximately $300,000 of the funds raised was used for this initial round, which focused on the Northeast, where McIntyre lived and started her family.The relief reached people across Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. The average amount of debt abolished was $877.How Casey McIntyre’s cancer experience inspired her medical debt relief campaignMcIntyre was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer at the age of 34. Her husband, Andrew Rose Gregory, said their medical coverage made their experience of cancer care easier than that of many other families. He described how cancer patients across the United States were postponing or refusing care, or taking on substantial medical debt because they lacked coverage.Their experience of the healthcare system, alongside their awareness of their own access to good coverage, inspired them to create a debt jubilee as part of McIntyre’s posthumous memorial. In announcing her death on her X account, McIntyre said she had arranged to buy up and destroy other people’s medical debt to celebrate her life.Casey McIntyre’s $20,000 fundraiser grew into a campaign worth over $1 millionThe original goal of McIntyre’s fundraiser was $20,000, but the campaign raised more than $1 million towards eliminating medical debt through Undue Medical Debt. Gregory said the family had never imagined that the initiative would raise so much or that McIntyre’s story would reach so many people. Initially, he saw the campaign as a way for his family to free others from the burden of medical debt. Over time, he came to see it as a way to create opportunities for those receiving relief. He said the relief could give families greater freedom to pursue better jobs, move into better homes, buy a new car, or work towards a long-held dream of earning a degree or certification.How the nonprofit identifies people eligible for medical debt reliefUndue Medical Debt works to relieve the burden of medical debt and improve people’s economic opportunities and ability to live healthier lives. Its eligibility criteria cover individuals whose incomes are at or below four times the federal poverty level, as well as those whose medical debt accounts for 5% or more of their gross annual income.The nonprofit states that medical debt relief cannot be requested by individuals because its process is source-based. As of January 2024, the organisation had abolished more than $10.4 billion in medical debt since its establishment in 2014, helping more than seven million people.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.