In 2009, bedridden with the flu and with her three young children “piled around me, poking me,” Michele Gannon found herself wondering how women undergoing cancer treatment managed without a peaceful place to rest and recover.
An adjunct professor at Monmouth University, Gannon made it her mission to create one. She formed a nonprofit and rented rooms in an Ocean Grove bed and breakfast to host women with cancer on weekend retreats. Outgrowing the B & B, she raised $3 million from local sponsors and loans, purchased two lots on Main Avenue, and built a three-story, 10-bedroom house.
Mary’s Place by the Sea opened in 2016. It can accommodate up to eight guests in private bedrooms with en suite bathrooms; there’s an elevator for those with mobility issues. Therapeutic practices offered on the three-day retreats include meditation, guided imagery, yoga, reflexology, nutritional counseling and oncology massage. Plant-based breakfast and lunch are served daily.
According to Gannon, who won the 2024 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Cancer Society’s Northeast Region, Mary’s Place By the Sea serves about 1,000 women annually; another 3,000 participate virtually each year through an online program.
The spa-like setting “is a very relaxed environment,” says Gannon. Guests bond, going to dinner together and having group chats. By the time they leave, they’ve built a supportive sisterhood, she says. One recent guest experienced that feeling the minute she walked in. “She looked around and asked if it would be okay to take her wig off,” Gannon recalls. “Everyone was like, ‘Yes, relax and let your head breathe.’”
