06/07/2026
On December 13, 2021, Gary Pierce was diagnosed with cancer, a day that will stay with him for the rest of his life. Like so many patients, his first instinct was to move quickly, to do whatever it took to get his treatments started and begin healing.
But once treatment began, the reality became far heavier than he imagined. Three weeks into radiation and chemotherapy, Gary hit a breaking point.
โ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ,โ he said. โ๐ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, โ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ.โ โ
What lifted him out of that moment was the love surrounding him, from his wife, daughter, Lindsay (pictured with him below) and the compassionate team at the Maurer Family Cancer Care Center, who stood by him every step of the way.
โ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.โ
Today, Gary is living a healthy, grateful life. Giving us a powerful reminder of what resilience can look like. He is one of many brave and inspiring patients we are honored to care for at our cancer care center.
This National Cancer Survivors Day, we celebrate and honor every individual who has trusted us with their care. Your stories stay with our team long after treatment ends, and you continue to inspire the work we do each day.