Discovery Series Sparks Education Gift

When Judy and Harry Wason attended a VCU Massey Cancer Center Discovery Series program in Williamsburg in April 2014, Judy’s main motivation was to reconnect with and be supportive of her friend Becky Massey, longtime Massey Advisory Board member and benefactor. The two had become friends when Judy lived in Richmond and was Director of Development at the Maymont Foundation and Massey was on the board.

But Harry wanted to attend the event for different reason: cancer ran in his family and he’d had prostrate cancer many years before. He was more than aware of the disease in many of its forms, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn more.

When radiologists noticed a shadow during a colonoscopy Harry had scheduled not long after the Massey event, they suggested a second opinion.

“The first person I thought of was my godson Jay Kuemmerle,” he says.

Kuemmerle, associate chair of Gastroenterology for Research at VCU Medical Center’s Center for Digestive Health, referred Wason his colleague Brian Kaplan, M.D., a surgical oncologist and director of the General Surgery Residency Program at VCU’s School of Medicine.

Wason was diagnosed with two malignant tumors in the back of his stomach, which Kaplan removed.

“Hopefully, that’s the end of that,” Harry says.

But that wasn’t the end of the Wasons’ appreciation for Dr. Kaplan’s care as well as their appreciation for Massey’s Discovery Series program, an initiative launched by the VCU Medical Center and the MCV Foundation to provide event guests with immediate access to the work of scholars, researchers, and clinicians.

“It’s a wonderful outreach program,” Judy says. “People came from all over Williamsburg. It’s a great concept. The setting is informal and comfortable where you can personally talk with doctors one-on-one, which is a wonderful way to do it. You don’t always want to bring up a question in front of an audience.”

The experience left such an impression with the couple, that in March they contributed $100,000 to Massey’s training and education program advancing the careers of promising scholars. The Wasons’ gift will fund one predoctoral position for two years.

“Cancer was in my family. My mother died of cancer, my father died of cancer and my brother had a brain tumor so I had an interest in cancer before I was ever diagnosed,” Harry says. “Massey is on the cutting edge and I thought I’d like to help someone in the future. Maybe even me. You don’t know in life. I thought this was a natural thing to do in my situation.”

People of the Wasons’ age, they say, are concerned about health and mortality. The Discovery Series event made them aware of the depth and breadth of the latest cancer research, which helped put their mind at ease. And they were eager to spread the word.

“We were very, very impressed,” Judy says. “We’ve told our own doctors here in Williamsburg about the program and all are just as interested as we are. We’re extraordinarily pleased about that because these are doctors who can make referrals [to Massey].”

The Wasons hope their gift is an example for others, especially in the Williamsburg area, site of the first Discovery Series event.

“We offer the challenge to inspire other people to join us in helping Massey find the answer and the cure for a disease that effects every family” Judy says.

“Harry and Judy Wason’s extraordinary generosity is a huge boost to our training and education fund,” says Gordon Ginder, M.D., VCU Massey Cancer Center director and Lipman Chair in Oncology. “Ensuring there is a next generation of physicians and scientists who will continue the progress and advancements that have been made is essential to our mission of eradicating death and suffering caused by cancer. I am grateful for this investment, and the inspiration I know it will spark in others.”