Dialing Hope: One-to-One Program Volunteers Offer Answers 

On the surface, it might appear that Meghan McLyman and Jay Wood don’t have much in common. 

McLyman is a mother and professor who teaches dance, and Wood is a stay-at-home father and former architect. They came to Dana-Farber for different reasons — McLyman had breast cancer and Wood was diagnosed with prostate cancer — but as part of the One-to-One Program, they share a goal that goes beyond family roles and professions. 

McLyman learned she had ductal carcinoma in situ after her first-ever annual mammogram screening.  A professional dancer her whole life, health and wellbeing were always top priorities. She could not recall a family history of cancer, and she had only just turned 41.  

“It was like a slap in the face,” she says. 

Wood’s diagnosis left him with dozens of questions about his future and his treatment. “I’m a planner,” he observes. “I need more details than less.” 

Both found answers and a sense of connection through One-to-One, a program which pairs participants with trained volunteers who have walked similar paths to talk over the phone.  

Wood knew that he was receiving comprehensive care at Dana-Farber. He recalls one appointment with his oncologist when he brought a notebook filled with questions; his physician went through and addressed every single one.  

But there are some non-clinical questions that can’t be addressed fully by someone who has never personally gone through a cancer journey themselves, Wood says. He had never had surgery and worried about the laparoscopic prostate operation he was scheduled to undergo. The volunteer he was put in touch with had been through a similar procedure and was able to address each of Wood’s questions. 

“He was able to center me,” Wood recalls. “I felt better with each call.” 

McLyman had similar worries about her mastectomy and had a similar experience with the volunteer who spoke to her. She was looking for information about post-operative recovery, “insider tips,” as she calls them, but she also needed guidance on how to approach the subject with her daughter, who was only five at the time, and how to navigate her own rollercoaster of emotions.  

“The doctors here know so much about cancer,” McLyman says. “But it’s really about that personal connection with other people who have been through it, too. It’s called One-to-One for a reason.” 

Hearing the experiences of other patients helped Wood and McLyman in ways that are concrete and abstract. The experience showed McLyman that “other people have gone through this and made it out and are successful.”  

The calm that Wood’s connection gave him was so crucial that he returned to One-to-One when he received another cancer diagnosis, this time in his bladder. It was one of the first things that he did as he struggled with this disheartening news. Before his chemotherapy regimen began, he spoke to three different people who went through a similar experience.  

McLyman and Wood are doing well today and are back to their “normal” lives. McLyman is the Dance Program Coordinator at Salem State University and teaches a class series called Moving to Connect at The Dance Complex in Cambridge’s Central Square. She is also co-writing a book with other dance educators about their cancer experiences.   

In Newton, Wood is responsible for the upkeep of a home that once served as a barn in the 1800s; he and his husband have two adopted teenagers. But neither Wood nor McLyman have closed the chapter on this part of their journey. In survivorship, they have become volunteers for One-to-One. They are now on the other end of the line that they once called. 

They have plenty of valuable lived experience that they can bring to their mentor conversations. McLyman benefited from the mind-body connection that she prioritized in her career as a dancer and a lifetime yoga practitioner. She points many to the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at Dana-Farber, where they can explore acupuncture, massage, and mindfulness practices.  

Closing the book on cancer wasn’t an option for Wood as he manages lifestyle changes after his cancer treatments. Nonetheless, he feels grateful. “I’m lucky,” he says. Conversations he has with new patients often revolve around how to cope with those changes. 

But McLyman and Wood also feel that they gain something by mentoring in the One-to-One. For McLyman, going back “helps me process what I went through.”  

“My expectation was that I would be helping patients,” Wood adds. “What I didn’t expect was to become a part of community.” 

If you are interested in requesting peer support, becoming a peer mentor, or learning more about the One-to-One program, visit www.dana-farber.org/onetoone.