A Brooklyn mother shared a heartbreaking social media post on Tuesday where she announced her own death to her family and friends. In the message, she expressed her desire to ensure that friends and family knew how "deeply" she was loved. Casey McIntyre, 38, died on Sunday of ovarian cancer.
McIntyre was a publisher at Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House specializing in publishing books for children and young adults. "A note to my friends: if you're reading this it means I have passed away," her devastating Instagram post began. "I'm so sorry, it's horses–t and we both know it," the post which has now gone viral continued.
Announcing Her Own Death
The heartbreaking announcement was accompanied by a series of photos capturing McIntyre's smiling moments, often in the company of loved ones, notably her husband, Andrew Gregory, and their 18-month-old daughter, Grace.
"I loved each and every one of you with my whole heart and I promise you, I knew how deeply I was loved," she insisted, adding that the last five months she spent in home hospice with her family and friends were "magical."
Gregory mentioned that the post was unfortunately cut short due to her deteriorating health.
"Casey meant to finish this post with a list of things that were a comfort and a joy to her during her life, and I am heartbroken that I will never see that list," he wrote.
He wished that his wife of eight years would have included so many other things she liked such as their "daughter Grace, whales, ice cream, her beloved friends, being at the beach, her niece and nephews she incorrigibly doted on, reading 10 books on a weeklong vacation, her beloved parents and sister and their amazing extended family, swimming, a perfect roast beef sandwich, and me, her sweet sweet honey."
He requested friends of McIntyre to share comforting or joyful memories they had with her.
Post Goes Viral
The post soon went viral, garnering thousands of likes and hundreds of heartfelt comments. "Oh Casey!!!! I don't know how we will do it without you but we will," Gregory said.
On Wednesday, he provided an update on his wife's Instagram page, sharing screenshots of an obituary he posted from his own account. The obituary described McIntyre as a cherished family woman and a devoted resident of New York.
"She derived great joy from publishing books for a new generation of readers, and saw herself in every child sprawled out on a couch, rug, or bunk bed engrossed in their latest book obsession," her obituary read.
Born on February 1, 1985, McIntyre spent her early years in Upper Manhattan and Tenafly, New Jersey, before enrolling at Agnes Scott College in Georgia.
She married Gregory in 2015. She was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2019 while undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment.
"I had a big surgery in January [2020], where they removed everything that had cancer on it — a full hysterectomy, part of my spleen, part of my liver, part of my lung. That was the scary part," she told Cup of Jo in July 2020.
"These days, I'm feeling more hopeful. Doing IVF back-to-back with cancer treatment made me realize: women go through a lot of hard things and don't talk about them that much."
The couple joyfully welcomed their daughter, Grace, into the world in April 2022.
