State Rep Stays Committed to Constituents During Pancreatic Cancer Treatment 

Ann-Margaret Ferrante likes a good fight. The daughter and granddaughter of Gloucester, Mass. fishermen has long devoted herself to helping those in and around her hardy hometown, first as a lawyer, and since 2009 as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  

For the last three years, however, Ferrante has had to balance her legislative duties with a fight of her own. When not meeting with her Essex County constituents or with colleagues at the State House — where she sits on various key committees — Ferrante spends every other Tuesday up the road at Dana-Farber getting chemotherapy infusions as part of her pancreatic cancer treatment.  

Her disease is under control, but not going away anytime soon. Neither is Ferrante, after winning re-election to her ninth term earlier this month. 

“Before cancer, I was a long-term planner,” says Ferrante, 52. “I’d focus on what we’re going to do this year, next year, five years from now. Now it’s more like, ‘OK, I know what’s important today, and I’m going to be present today. I’m going to squeeze everything I can out of it. All the little things will take care of themselves over time.” 

Ferrante credits this philosophy for giving her a fresh outlook on her job. As vice chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, she views every bill and related piece of legislation impacting the Commonwealth. These days, she finds it easier to hone in on the most important issues. 

“When I was first diagnosed, I asked a friend how pancreatic cancer had changed his life,” says Ferrante. “He said, ‘Think of yourself sitting at a desk with one pile of important things and one pile of BS things in front of you. All of a sudden, the pile of important things is going to get a lot smaller, and the pile of BS things is going to get a lot bigger.’ He was right.” 

Finding a team 

It was love for her hometown that drew Ferrante to public service. The fishing industry that provided Gloucester and other northern Massachusetts blue-collar communities with their livelihood for centuries was receding, and she wanted to save it. As an attorney she specialized in fisheries and land use issues, and since becoming a legislator, she has spearheaded efforts to bring new businesses to the Cape Ann region through vocational programs and industries such as marine biotechnology and the building trades. 

When she began experiencing pain from her left shoulder down through her chest in 2020, Ferrante began a six-month medical odyssey during which she spent nights sleeping with ice packs while doctors sought the cause. 

“The pain got so bad I wound up in the emergency room three nights in a row, and on the third night they noticed my breathing was off,” Ferrante recalls. “They did an MRI from my toes to my head, and then told me they had found a tumor on my pancreas.” 

It was January 2021, the height of the COVID pandemic, so Ferrante — who lives with and cares for her blind mother — was alone when she got the news and an ambulance trip that same night to Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center. There, while still isolated and undergoing a week of biopsies and other tests, she met each member of her treatment team, led by Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH.  

“I had always thought pancreatic cancer was terminal, but Dr. Meyerhardt reassured me that they would do all they could to make this something I could live with as a chronic disease,” explains Ferrante. “To realize I had all these specialists working with me to find the best outcome possible and transition to a life living with cancer was a great feeling.” 

Meyerhardt could offer this hope, he says, because of progress made in pancreatic cancer research and treatment. While it is still an aggressive cancer, and one of the toughest to treat, there are more options now available to patients.  

“Compared to two decades ago, we have seen multiple new therapies that have controlled pancreatic cancer for longer in patients, and more aggressive approaches to increase the number of patients for whom surgery can and should be considered,” says Meyerhardt. “While we still have a long way to go, more and more patients will have disease control and maintain quality of life for longer.”  

While surgery was not an option for Ferrante, a first chemotherapy regimen and radiation initially shrank her tumor. She returned to work and received an outpouring of support from her colleagues.

“Even people who were hard on me on certain issues reached out,” she says with a laugh. “Some sent me messages like, ‘You know, we may have different philosophies, but we’re behind you 100%.’” 

Channeling commitment 

When the tumor returned a few months later, Meyerhardt made good on his word. He and Ferrante devised what has become her regular ritual: each second Tuesday, she comes to Dana-Farber for blood work, a check-up, and starts a chemotherapy infusion. A portable pump allows her to continue receiving her chemotherapy at home through a port in her chest until Thursday. If she encounters side-effects or issues, her nurse practitioner Mike Casey, APRN-BC, FNP, and oncology nurse navigator Chris Lilienfeld, RN, BSN, are a call or text away.  

Ferrante works from home throughout this three-day process, and by the weekend is back to her old self and out visiting constituents. Each time the effectiveness of a particular chemotherapy regimen wears off, Meyerhardt and his team find a new one. 

These days, inspired by the quality of her treatment, Ferrante has made health care one of her major legislative focuses. She helped launch a Life Science Caucus earlier this year that lobbies the biopharma industry to bring more life sciences jobs to Massachusetts, and is currently advocating for a bill to help cover costs for cancer patients undergoing genetic testing to determine their susceptibility to additional cancers. In 2023, she was named MassBio’s “Legislator of the Year.”  

“Ann Margaret’s capacity to channel her own cancer journey challenges into a commitment to work for enduring health care delivery-related benefits for her constituents is remarkable,” says Casey. “It is this purpose-driven quest in the face of her own adversity which speaks to the content of her character.” 

Lilienfeld says she is “continually amazed by Ann-Margaret’s ability to manage everything” in her life while dealing with her treatment. 

“Ann-Margaret has taught me that in times of darkness, staying in the light is paramount to self-preservation,” says Lilienfeld. “She achieves this with spirit and grace.”     

By sharing her story, Casey says, Ferrante is showing cancer does not define her — or limit her abilities to help others. Neuropathy might make walking long distances a bit tougher, but Ferrante still has time outside work for her large circle of family and friends, including 13 godchildren. 

“Early on, when I was having a tough day, my mother sat down next to me,” says Ferrante. “She said, ‘Twenty years ago, when I lost my sight, I didn’t know how to deal with it. What I figured out is that you get up, get dressed, and start by taking one step. You convince yourself to take another, and another, and before you know it, you’re walking.’”