This week, the world has been mourning the loss of Casey Ryan McIntyre, a 38-year-old mother, who, in a poignant Instagram post, revealed her own death on November 12 from ovarian cancer.
"A note to my friends: if you're reading this it means I have passed away ... I loved each and every one of you with my whole heart and I promise you, I knew how deeply I was loved," she wrote in the message posted to her Instagram account.
But her departure marks not just an end but the beginning of a legacy poised to touch the lives of thousands.
McIntyre's parting gift to the world is a mission of compassion—to purchase and eradicate others' medical debt in celebration of her own life. In her own words, shared on X—formerly Twitter—she declared, "To celebrate my life, I've arranged to buy up others' medical debt and then destroy the debt."
The response has been nothing short of remarkable, with a memorial page on RIP Medical Debt's website quickly surpassing $74,000 of its $100,000 goal. McIntyre's husband, Andrew Gregory, told Newsweek: "She was a truly hilarious, beautiful woman who lit up every room she was in."
The charity RIP Medical Debt helps relieve those most in need of their debt. By buying "bundles" of debt at a fraction of the original cost, they are able to make individual donations worth around 100 times their value in medical debt. This means that the $75,000 raised so far in McIntyre's name is already set to clear around $7.5 million of medical debt.
Raised in Manhattan and New Jersey, McIntyre worked as a publisher at Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where she found great joy in publishing books for a new generation of readers, according an obituary. She and Gregory have a daughter, Grace Valentine Gregory.
Explaining the motive behind McIntyre's selfless act, Gregory emphasized, "Casey was fortunate enough to die without any medical debt thanks to her fantastic insurance. However, Casey was keenly aware that our family was the exception to the rule."
McIntyre's commitment to addressing the pervasive issue of medical debt led her and Andrew to RIP Medical Debt. Inspired by a video of Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, alleviating $3.3 million of medical debt, the couple initiated monthly donations to the organization.
Startling statistics from The Commonwealth Fund reveal that 40 percent of U.S. adults currently grapple with medical or dental bill-induced debt. Furthermore, 60 percent of those burdened with medical debt report cutting back on basic necessities like food or clothing.
Gregory passionately articulated the urgency of the matter, saying, "So many Americans are destroying their family savings to get lifesaving care, dependent on jobs for the healthcare that keeps them alive."
Having faced the specter of McIntyre's potential loss earlier in May, the family embraced what they fondly called "one last bonus summer" with her. As they prepared for her memorial, a decision was made to transform it into a "debt jubilee" through RIP Medical Debt.
"We want people to walk into her memorial and cry, and keen, and wail, and say 'Oh Dear God, where is our Casey?' But be able to walk out heads held high, saying we destroyed 10 million dollars of medical debt today," explained Gregory. "Because of Casey, because of us, her community, we have wiped the slates clean for someone who truly needs it, and have given them some measure of a fresh slate financially."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Alice Gibbs is a Newsweek Senior Internet Trends & Culture Reporter based in the U.K. For the last two years ... Read more
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