Kathie Mitchell, assistant vice president of Bank of America’s Banking Center Control Department, spends much of her free time raising money for the North Shore Medical Center Cancer Center.

As an analyst with the Banking Center Control Department, Assistant Vice President Mitchell inspects Maine, New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts branches for compliance with bank policies and procedures – which, if followed, should mean they’ll pass federal and state exams – a job that keeps her on the road quite a bit and requires lots of focus while she’s working. She insists it’s only 40 hours a week – “the bank wouldn’t allow any more” – including her commute, which she finds pleasant, as she goes against rush-hour traffic and drives by the town where she has a summer home.

Mitchell works so she can keep that second home – and to keep her mind focused on something other than her cancer, which arrived in her life six years ago when she went to the doctor after noticing something odd. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2001, when she held a similar job at Fleet Bank. Surgery for the disease, which was discovered in a late stage, forced her to stop working for six months. The mother of three grown daughters came back determined to be productive and enjoy her small granddaughter, Teya.

Mitchell thinks she’s been able to do those things thanks to flexible work policies that allowed her time to go to medical appointments – and the doctors and nurses at the North Shore Medical Center Cancer Center, who provided them.

‘Giving Back’

Being treated at the Dana-Farber/Partners-affiliated center, which is the Peabody branch of a multisite health consortium, has inspired Mitchell to think even more about her illness. Six years after being diagnosed, she finds much of her free time consumed by raising money so the NSMC Cancer Center can help others. “Team Kathie Mitchell” has walked the annual 6-mile fund-raiser walk to benefit the medical center for three years, raising more than $65,000 in that time and growing to 120 members, including Mitchell’s family, friends and work colleagues. They’ll wear the team’s signature blue T-shirts, donated by the Salem Waterfront Hotel, at this month’s walk in Salem and around town year-round to raise even more awareness.

Bank of America matches its employees’ contributions of more than $25, Mitchell noted, which usually adds $2,000 to what her team raises. The banking community has helped the NSMC Cancer Center in other ways it may not even realize. Mitchell’s former boss at Bank of New England, where she worked before it merged with Fleet, convinced her to form her own team. The former boss, Dick Rehal, still walks with her team.

Mitchell said she’s dedicated to the NSMC Cancer Center because its staff has gone out of their way to help her find treatments that will work. She tells the story of a few years ago, when her doctor, Ronald Weinger, and a nurse, Lorraine Rand, believed she needed chemotherapy injected in a particular way to make it beneficial. It was an uncommon procedure that the center didn’t perform at the time, so the two “cut through the red tape,” found a company in Colorado that did it and flew in a trainer so the center would be able to offer it, Mitchell recalled.

She will keep getting her treatments there for reasons like that, and plans to keep walking with her team every year so the center will continue to thrive. “They’ve given me six more years of life,” Mitchell said, noting that she’s been cancer-free for the past year. “They’re without a doubt the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. I do this because I’m giving back to an organization I can never repay.”

Team Kathie Mitchell will join the NSMC Cancer Center on June 24 for its 17th annual fund-raiser walk and post-walk cookout. Those who want to join at the last minute are invited. Mitchell promises a T-shirt for everyone who shows up. For more information, visit www.firstgiving.com/KathieMitch2

by Amy Wyeth