Mary-Ellen Taplin turned personal tragedy into cancer care advocacy
Mary-Ellen Taplin at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute turned her own heartbreak into a drive to help others.
At 44, she was diagnosed with breast cancer while her husband, Ross Carol, was fighting a brain tumor. He passed away just eight months later.
"This experience, one of traumatic grief, is a part of me," she says.
Mary-Ellen Taplin's daughters are now doctors
Taplin and Carol met in medical school and raised two daughters (now doctors themselves). After losing him, Taplin poured her energy into improving cancer care for others.
"I committed to continue to live the life that Ross and I had built together," she says.
She encourages finding strength in tough times: "Understand that life is a marathon and not a sprint, and the challenging things of the moment in most cases will eventually fade with time."
Today, she balances family and work, using what she's been through as both patient and caregiver to make real change for patients every day.