- November 21, 2024
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As 2023 was ending, Jean MacAllister and her partner Lance Langston didn’t know how they were going to pay for her lung cancer treatments.
“I was not really ready to give up,” she said. “But we were ready to just give it over and take whatever was going to come forward.”
There was simply no money left for them to find. Just in 2023, Langston, 67, and MacAllister, 78, had had to pay for a new air conditioning unit, a new car engine, to fix the stove, washer and drier. The two of them live on Langston’s salary as a behavioral tech at Halifax Hospital and MacAllister’s social security and a widow’s pension benefit she receives from her deceased second husband — they need the benefit to pay bills, she said, which is the only reason she and Langston have not gotten married after their 11 years together.
But then in June 2023, at her annual check-up, MacAllister’s doctor told her the news. Her cancer was back after several years of remission.
It was overwhelming. We both broke into tears.”
— JEAN MACALLISTER, donation recipient
They tried multiple different treatments, she said, each one expensive. Now her doctors have her on a treatment plan that is 21 treatments every three weeks.
Each of the 21 treatments costs $2,500.
As 2023 came to a close, MacAllister took to Facebook, desperate. She didn’t ask for money, she said. Just prayers.
And then a holiday miracle: Council member Cathy Heighter called MacAllister and Langston to let them know that an anonymous donor had gifted MacAllister $8,000 toward her chemotherapy treatments.
Heighter said the donor had seen her MacAllister’s post and reached out to Heighter’s nonprofit, Remembering Heroes, to help.
“It was overwhelming,” MacAllister said, voice thick with emotion. “We both broke into tears.”
MacAllister was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013 when doctors noticed a lesion it the upper lobe of her right lung. Before her diagnosis, MacAllister said she spent her life in service: as a respiratory therapist nurse and, later, volunteering in a variety of fields.
She moved to Palm Coast in 2003, and between then and her diagnosis, MacAllister served as volunteer coordinator with Flagler Volunteer Services, director of Alpha Pregnancy for six years, worked with Pace Volusia-Flagler Center for Girls and was a dedicated member and volunteer with the Flagler County Kiwanis club.
She and Langston met, actually, while he was volunteering under her management, Langston said. Langston said his life changed for the better the moment he asked her out.
“Simply put, I love this woman,” he said. “I worship the ground she walks on.”
Langston spends time at work as a caretaker and comes home to care for MacAllister, too. MacAllister said she feels guilty for that, but Langston said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m in for pound, I’m in for a penny,” he said.
After her initial diagnosis, MacAllister said, doctors removed the upper portion of her right lung, and between that and her treatments, she said she’s not able to be as involved in the community like she used to.
But now it’s her dream to pay this kindness forward someway, she said.
“I don't know who the person is. I don't know if they know me,” she said. “But I thank God for them and for their generosity. I'm very humbled by it and I hope that I can repay somebody else the same way someday.”
I don't know who the person is. I don't know if they know me. But I thank God for them and for their generosity."
— JEAN MACALLISTER, donation recipient
It’s hard to accept that the money shouldn’t go to someone else more deserving though, she said.
Heighter said she understands that feeling — it can be hard, as a giver, to accept help.
“I think that Jean is a strong-willed woman,” Heighter said. “She’s a fighter.”
Heighter said the donation came through Remembering Heroes because Langston is a veteran.
MacAllister has written the donor a thank you note and said she will keep them up to date with how the money is used.
The money donated will pay for about five of her treatments or — if she qualifies for some grant funding — one of the myriad of other medical bills that she pays: lab work, doctor copays, money owed from previous hospital visits. Medicare pays for some of it, but a lot comes out of pocket, she said. But the donation is a tremendous help, regardless.
“The stress has been relieved,” MacAllister said. “I can take a deep breath.”
“We really do have to thank the independent donor for stepping up and doing this,” Langston said.
Heighter said she knows the $8,000 won’t cover all of MacAllister’s treatments, but she hopes there are more people able to donate and help MacAllister get the care she needs.
MacAllister said she just hopes to be able to get back to helping people herself, one day.
“I'm not ready to die,” she said. “I want to be able to get back into the community.”
