“I’m Not Supposed To Be Here” Duncan Richardson Swims To Give Hope To Future Cancer Patients
David Creed •
For years, Duncan Richardson rode in the Pan-Mass challenge to help raise money to advance cancer research and care for those who needed it. Then in 2022, Richardson got the news nobody wants to hear – he was diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer, and suddenly thrust into the situation he had spent years helping others cope with.
“I’m really not supposed to be here,” said Richardson, who has been visiting the island for over 35 years and owned a home on-island for two decades. “This is one of the worst ones, so I am a very grateful guy. I’ve been lucky in life and was dealt this pretty bad hand, but thanks to all the research that has been done and the development of all these immunotherapy drugs, I am here.”
Richardson received treatment at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s infusion center, which opened in 2019 thanks to funding from Swim Across America Nantucket. It included the immunotherapy drug Opdivo (nivolumab) and biweekly chemotherapy infusions.
"The ability to be treated out here at the infusion center is just game changing," he said. "When you get cancer, you can really become dispirited. My cancer treatments for the last two years have really involved three days’ worth of one going into the center and then coming home with a chemo drug attached to my body by a pump and so for two days, you get that put into you. So three days out of every 14 you are fighting off the cancer. Then depending on your side effects, you can kind of live the other 11 days or so."
“But if you add onto that the need to transport yourself and commute to some treatment center, it's crazy, in particularly when you're 30 miles out to sea,” Richardson continued. “I could go back to Hyannis, but probably would go back to Boston for the Dana Farber Clinic. The infusion center here is just phenomenal. They’re just wonderful, kind and caring there. I am so grateful for their care. I live in Miacomet, so it is less than a 10-minute drive to the hospital. So I can be treated and be back home that same afternoon.”
Richardson began riding in the Pan-Mass challenge 11 years ago but was forced to stop in 2022 following his cancer diagnosis. This year he will be swimming a half mile at Saturday’s Swim Across America Nantucket fundraiser, which is in its 12th year on the island (SAA was founded in 1987). He has volunteered with the fundraiser since 2021.
"When I started riding the Pan Mass challenge 11 years ago, I really didn't have any close brushes with cancer but since that time I've lost a brother, some very good friends," Richardson said. "It seems like it's everywhere man. It's not a club you want to join, but when you do and you're in this cancer community, it is the kindest and most giving community I've ever really been a part of. It's a wonderful collection of people, and it comes from the empathy I think that you get when you've gone through it yourself – that diagnosis where a doctor says to you 'You have cancer,' and just the dread that is associated with that.”
Richardson was the organization’s speaker last year, but was unable to swim because he was on his chemotherapy pump. This year for the first time, he will be swimming. He says he is excited to swim a half mile this weekend for the organization he gives significant credit for helping save his life. His team is called “Strokes For Hope,” and he developed the name while thinking about his association with SAA and their importance in his cancer battle.
"What the Swim Across America folks do, and what they give to cancer patients like me and their families, is they give them hope," Richardson said. "I just started thinking about strokes for hope and this whole sort of theme of strokes for hope came up. That's the name of my team and the fundraiser for this year.”
Last year, the island’s 11th annual fundraiser raised an incredible $650,000 for on-island cancer care and oncology research. It was a record-breaking total that smashed the previous year's total of approximately $525,000 by a wide margin. All of the money raised is donated to Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Palliative & Supportive Care of Nantucket, and the Mass General Hospital Cancer Center.
The event is run by directors/founders Jim Pignato and Jill Roethke.
You can donate to Richardson’s fundraiser by clicking here.
