When 73-year-old Peabody native Barbara Rubano’s voice got low and grumbly, the last thing she thought the doctor would tell her is that she had lung cancer. “I’m an active person,” she explained. “I golf all the time and I’m always out and about. When I heard the word cancer, I just went into shock.”

Rubano was sent to Dr. Bruce Barlam, a thoracic surgeon at NSMC. Fortunately, Dr. Barlam had good news: he could remove the cancer, however, it would require a fairly invasive surgery. “Ms. Rubano was a unique patient,” says Dr. Barlam. “The lung tumor that needed to be removed was attached to her chest wall. It made the surgery a bit more challenging, but definitely not impossible.” Within a week, Rubano was inside the operating room at NSMC Salem Hospital.

“The doctors and nursing staff were absolutely amazing,” said Rubano. “They explained exactly what was going to happen, and did their best to ease all the anxiety I was feeling.” Dr. Barlam removed the upper section of Rubano’s left lung, and then sent her to the NSMC Cancer Center in Peabody for chemotherapy. Once a week for five weeks, Rubano sat through five hours of chemotherapy.

“It wasn’t what I would call ‘fun,’ but it was a good experience. The staff there made me feel much more comfortable than I expected,” she said. Two months after her surgery, Rubano was tired of sitting around. She called Dr. Barlam and wanted to know if she could get back out on the golf course. Dr. Barlam gave her the okay, and she grabbed her clubs. “I was actually amazed at how good I felt,” said Rubano. “Everyone told me it was going to be this horrible, painful experience and that I wouldn’t do anything for months… boy were they wrong!” Disease-free since February, Rubano is now gearing up for another year of volunteering at the 18^th annual NSMC Cancer Walk on June 22. Just one year after her battle with cancer began, she couldn’t be happier to be giving back.