Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | November 23, 2020 | wbjournal.com F O C U S H E A L T H C A R E J ulia Becker Collins describes herself as a walking ad for preventative health care. Earlier this year, before the coronavirus pandemic upended every corner of society and the economy, the COO of marketing agency Vision Advertising in Westborough had a regular checkup scheduled for March – one she nearly skipped. "I almost canceled the physical because I was so busy," she said. "And Upended Two years aer taking over leadership of Vision Advertising – and remaking the company in her own image – Julia Becker Collins had a new crisis: thyroid cancer BY MONICA BUSCH Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer then it just snuck up on me and I was like, 'Forget it, I'll just go. It'll be fine, she'll run blood work, she'll tell me I'm healthy.'" All went as she expected as her doctor screened her for various health indicators, until her physician placed her hands on her neck. "And then she looks me dead in the eyes," Becker Collins said, recalling the visit. "She says, 'You have a lump. You have a mass in your throat.'" At the time, Becker Collins said, she didn't even know what a thyroid was. Heeding the warning it could be benign, as thyroid masses oen are, according to her doctor, Becker Collins scheduled an ultrasound and then planned for a biopsy. She would be contacted the following Monday to schedule the latter, she was told. But over the course of the next several days, concern about the coronavirus pandemic reached a crescendo. "Nobody ever called me on Monday, because the whole state got locked down over that weekend," Becker Collins said. "I'm sitting here with what I now know is a three-centimeter mass on my thyroid, and I don't know if I have cancer or not." At the time, a March 15 order from Gov. Charlie Baker directed hospitals to delay elective procedures until further notice. Virtually any procedure not deemed a medical emergency was on hold, including Becker Collins's biopsy. At the advice of a cousin working as an oncologist in Colorado, Becker Collins transferred her case out of the UMass Memorial system and into a hospital network less overwhelmed with coronavirus cases. She switched to Emerson Hospital system in Concord, although she notes she was not upset with UMass for failing to call her about her biopsy. "I'm not mad at anybody," she said. "It was just a cluster." She scheduled a next-day telehealth appointment with a new provider, then a biopsy the following week. e test came back showing the growth was malignant: Becker Collins had thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer Rate of new cases: 15.7 per 100,000 people Lifetime risk: 1.3% of people will be diagnosed Prevalence: 859,838 living with it in the U.S. (as of 2017) Commonality: 2.9% of all new cancer cases in the U.S. Rate of new cases for women: 23.1 per 100,000 people Rate of new cases for men: 8.1 per 100,1000 people Source: National Cancer Institute Julia Becker Collins, chief operating officer of Vision Advertising, at her home office in Marlborough PHOTOS | MATT WRIGHT

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