OhioHealth Leader Returns to Work After Cancer Journey
After months of intense treatment and time away from the job she loves, Heather Buck, OhioHealth senior system director, Food and Nutrition Services, made her return to work last week. And her team made sure she walked in to a warm welcome.
“It’s exciting. It’s a little overwhelming just to see everybody,” Buck said. “But also it just validates why I’m so happy to be back.”
Last fall, Buck was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. She spent the holidays as a patient at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, undergoing high-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant using her own cells.
She already knew the kind of care OhioHealth delivers, but now she’s experienced it in the most personal way.
“To come as a patient is a whole new lens, but a privilege to get that care,” she said. “It gives you so much clarity because you have a lot of time in a hospital bed. You see everything in a different way. To really see the quality, the professionalism, the dedication to you as a patient is really humbling.”
Now in remission, Buck said she owes her recovery to her care team who guided her every step of the way, including colleagues who became her providers. She’s grateful for the support she received, her team even shaving their heads when she lost her own hair.
“Just the feeling of coming home and seeing all the people that I work with and being so grateful that they’ve done amazing work in my absence,” Buck said. “This is the place I couldn’t wait to get back to. I’m healthy enough from the care I’ve gotten at OhioHealth to come back to work. So it’s a full circle moment for me.”
And for her fellow associates, having her back meant everything.
“Heather has been the kind of leader that people want to be led by,” said Joy Bischoff, OhioHealth system vice president, Enterprise Shared Services. “She is kind, she’s warm, she’s genuine, she’s fun. And she really connects personally with each one of our teams.”
From day one of her diagnosis, her team stood by her. They grieved with her. Rallied around her. And on her first day back, celebrated with her.
“We are resilient. And really, we are a team. And I think Heather embodies that,” said Bischoff. “Today was just pure joy and celebrating.”
Buck spent her first day back in the office walking the halls, delivering cookies to every floor. A small thank you to her OhioHealth family.
“You never want to get cancer. But if you had to have something happen to you, thank God everything happened to me while I was here at OhioHealth.”
To learn more about OhioHealth's Cancer Care, click here.
