A Brooklyn mother announced her own death on Tuesday in a heartbreaking Instagram post after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Casey McIntyre, 38, died on Sunday after a four-year battle with cancer. “A note to my friends: if you’re reading this it means I have passed away,” the post began.
“I’m so sorry, it’s horses*** and we both know it,” she added. “I loved each and every one of you with my whole heart and I promise you, I knew how deeply I was loved.”
She continued the past by saying the last five months she spent in home hospice with her family and friends were “magical.”
The message was accompanied by a series of photos of Ms McIntyre with her family, including her husband Andrew Gregory, and their 18-month-old daughter, Grace.
Mr Gregory noted that his wife was not able to finish her post due to her declining health. “Casey meant to finish this post with a list of things that were a comfort and a joy to her during her life, and I am heartbroken that I will never see that list,” he wrote.
The grieving husband attempted to finish off his wife’s post, saying she would have included their “daughter Grace, whales, ice cream, her beloved friends, being at the beach, her niece and nephews she incorrigibly doted on, reading 10 books on a weeklong vacation, her beloved parents and sister and their amazing extended family, swimming, a perfect roast beef sandwich, and me, her sweet sweet honey.”
“Oh Casey!!!! I don’t know how we will do it without you but we will,” Mr Gregory added.
The post quickly went viral, receiving thousands of likes and comments.
Ms McIntyre grew up in Upper Manhattan and Tenafly, New Jersey, before attending Agnes Scott College in Georgia.
She worked as a publisher at Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House that publishes books for kids and young adults, before being diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2019 while undergoing in vitro fertilisation treatment.
She married her in 2015 and the couple welcomed their daughter Grace in April 2022.
Following the 38-year-old’s death, an obituary shared by Mr Gregory described her as an “inveterate New Yorker.”
Ms McIntyre with her husband Andrew Gregory, and their 18-month-old daughter, Grace— (X/@caseyrmcintyre)
“She derived great joy from publishing books for a new generation of readers, and saw herself in every child sprawled out on a couch, rug, or bunk bed engrossed in their latest book obsession,” the obituary continued.
Her family said she “always knew what bodegas had the best magazine selections, what restaurants were best for spotting celebrities on her lunch break, and gave every new New Yorker the advice: make sure you buy a coat that covers your butt, because that’s where you lose a lot of warmth.”
A memorial service will be held for Ms McIntyre on 2 December at the Prospect Park Boathouse.
Mourners can celebrate McIntyre’s life by anonymously purchasing medical debt and then anonymously forgiving it via the charity RIP Medical Debt.
More than $76,000 has been raised so far.
