Updated June 17th, 2020

Amazing 75 Year-Old Cancer Patient Walks Three Hours In The Rain To Get Cancer Treatment And Avoid COVID-19

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Imagine walking three hours to cancer treatment in the rain. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has disrupted cancer treatment for many patients, but New Yorker Carol Davis wasn’t going to let the outbreak get in the way of her monthly hospital visit.

Davis, 75, goes through monthly cancer treatments at her hospital Memorial Sloan Kettering, but delayed her intravenous immunotherapy treatment in April because of COVID-19. However, Davis was determined to make her May treatment without exposing herself to the virus by taking the subway or a cab, so she walked from her Upper East Side apartment to Memorial Sloan Kettering which is in Midtown Manhattan.

According to a Facebook post from Davis, she walked to and from the hospital while it was raining which took nearly three hours. Then, she waited two hours at the hospital for her treatment.

“So I had the mask on for almost 7 hours,” Davis wrote in the post. “The treatment itself was really one of the easier parts of the day. But I have to redo the labs, so I have another appointment next Monday, then a scan late in the month and the next treatment in the beginning of June.”

Dr. Brieze Keeley Bell explains when cancer patients should stay home, or call their doctors, during coronavirus.

Cancer Treatment During COVID-19

The pandemic has caused cancer screenings to be halted, elective surgeries to be delayed, and some new clinical trials to be put on hold for participants. However, doctors have told SurvivorNet in numerous interviews that hospitals are starting to adjust to new pressures brought on by the virus, and are now able to manage both COVID-19 and cancer patients.

Everyone is quick to acknowledge that doctors in New York are absolutely under a heightened level of stress. However, in New York, a number of doctors, including a top lung cancer surgeon, say that their patients are making it through.

"Patients are doing surprisingly well," Dr. Brendon Stiles, a thoracic surgeon at Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet. "There's obviously a lot of anxiety out there among the people we treat."

Dr. Brendon Stiles says his patients in New York are “doing well” despite the coronavirus

Despite disruptions, doctors urge patients to stay positive and not lose hope during this uncertain time. As doctors continue to adjust, some elective surgeries in select states are being rescheduled and a few clinical trials are still available to patients.

"I don't want my patients to lose hope or think that their future is compromised because of this pandemic," Dr. Heather McArthur, the Medical Director of Breast Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, told SurvivorNet.

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