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Evan Gregory

Days before Casey McIntyre died of ovarian cancer, the 38-year-old mother of one asked her husband to prepare the <a href="https://ripmedicaldebt.org/campaign/andrewrosegregory-47569/?fbclid=IwAR2k7y4HdEuM2pgpteuzWMtowuakdFaOc5X2FSDfKxgnflAA-_WpZY19Rk4" target=_blank>“debt jubilee”</a> before he penned her <a href="https://www.facebook.com/andrew.rose.gregory/posts/pfbid033bXaRNFEizg3a8eipCzNmYMquPqKBtFFmQU7dgEAcWU6gEDhkkCBdHLVZjzYu9A5l" target=_blank>obituary</a>.

“If you’re reading this I have passed away. I’m so sorry,” reads the announcement that McIntyre’s husband, Andrew Rose Gregory, posted to her social media <a href="https://x.com/caseyrmcintyre/status/1724510323179196534?s=20" target=_blank>account</a> on Tuesday, “to celebrate my life, I’ve arranged to buy up others’ medical debt and then destroy the debt.”

McIntyre, who served as publisher at Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House, was diagnosed in 2019 and proceeded through treatment without taking on debt, Gregory told The Washington Post. But many fellow cancer patients she met were in more precarious financial positions, Gregory added.

“We were both so keenly aware that Casey had great health insurance through Penguin Random House,” said Gregory, 41. “Casey had no medical debt.”

Other cancer patients faced difficult decisions.

Should they pay their mortgage that month or make another payment toward their medical bills? Did they want to extend their life for a couple more years or die soon so they could leave their savings to the next generation?

“People are making miserable decisions about their care because of money,” Gregory said. “This imaginary debt is dragging so many people down. It’s an immoral part of our nation.”

About nine months before McIntyre died, her husband came across a <a href="https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1645867657697153046" target=_blank>video</a> online about members of a North Carolina church who purchased nearly $3.3 million of local residents’ medical debt for $15,048 in a “debt jubilee,” a historical reference to ancient stories about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/21/debt-jubilee-is-only-way-avoid-depression/" target=_blank>personal debts being canceled</a> at regular intervals.

The couple chose to make monthly donations to <a href="https://ripmedicaldebt.org/" target=_blank>RIP Medical Debt</a>, the same organization that partnered with the North Carolina churchgoers. The nonprofit organization aims to abolish medical debt “at pennies on the dollar,” according to its website. For every $100 donated, the company relieves $10,000 of medical debt. As of Saturday, nearly <a href="https://ripmedicaldebt.org/campaign/andrewrosegregory-47569/?fbclid=IwAR2k7y4HdEuM2pgpteuzWMtowuakdFaOc5X2FSDfKxgnflAA-_WpZY19Rk4" target=_blank>$200,000</a> had been donated to RIP Medical Debt in McIntyre’s memory, which would wipe out approximately $20 million of unpaid medical bills.

Allison Sesso, president and chief executive of RIP Medical Debt, said her organization found out about McIntyre’s case after McIntyre’s posthumous social media post went viral. Sesso said the pace of donations was record-setting for her charity.

“What an incredible gesture to the world as you’re exiting,” Sesso told The Post. “This final act of generosity is blowing up. The amount that they’re raising and the rate at which this has gone is not something that we’re used to.”

Andrew Rose Gregory

With Stage 4 ovarian cancer and a life expectancy of less than a month, McIntyre entered home hospice in June under her oncologist’s recommendation, Gregory said. The good days were filled with trips to the beach in Rhode Island, karaoke parties at their Brooklyn apartment and pool days with their daughter.

What was supposed to be no more than a month of life turned out to be a “bonus summer” — nearly six months. She found glimmers of joy in the mundane, even when the cancer didn’t let her stomach keep down any food during the last weeks of the terminal illness, Gregory said.

Some days, the couple, who married in 2015, watched McIntyre’s favorite movies, “The Big Lebowski” and “Best in Show.” Other days, McIntyre would pick up books to read and discuss with her husband.

“Hey, remember that fight we had three months ago?” Gregory recounted his wife telling him one night. “I’ve been thinking about that.” What followed, Gregory said, was one of the pair’s most meaningful conversations during their marriage. “We did our best to get everything ready for the end, because we knew it was coming.”

The “bonus summer” also gave McIntyre enough time — if one can ever have enough as death approaches — to plan her memorial and what life would look like for her family. It also left her time to solidify her pledge: to erase the medical debt of strangers with donations made through her memorial and <a href="https://ripmedicaldebt.org/campaign/andrewrosegregory-47569/?fbclid=IwAR2k7y4HdEuM2pgpteuzWMtowuakdFaOc5X2FSDfKxgnflAA-_WpZY19Rk4" target=_blank>debt jubilee website</a>. McIntyre died at home on Nov. 12.

“People are going to walk into Casey’s memorial, cry and lose their minds in grief,” Gregory said. “But they’re going to be able to walk out and say, ‘Today, we wiped $10 million, $12 million or $15 million of medical debt off this plate and it’s off the face of this Earth and it’s because of Casey.’”

For now, donations are still piling in. Her memorial — and final accounting of the debt jubilee — is expected to take place in December.

That day, attendees will honor McIntyre by officially “buying up others’ medical debt and destroying it,” her website reads. “If attending, please wear something that expresses your deep sorrow at our loss, as well as something that expresses the joy you feel for having ever known Casey.”

Columbia College Chicago, BA in Journalism

Columbia University, MS in Investigative Journalism

Andrea Salcedo is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2020 as an overnight reporter on the Morning Mix team. Previously, she covered breaking news and features for the New York Times metro desk. 

Andrea Salcedo

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After death, she set in motion plan to clear $20 million in medical debt

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