Jacqueline MacNeill Hedstrom

August 17, 1970 – December 16, 2024

Jacqui Hedstrom died early on the morning of December 16th 2024. She was at home on Bainbridge Island Washington, safe in her own bed with her husband Rick at her side. 

As Jacqui slipped into a coma the evening before, she was surrounded by her entire family: beloved husband Rick and their sons Alex, Ben, and Will with wife Elise; her parents, Claire and Charlie MacNeill; her sisters, Amy MacNeill and Maureen Wheeler with husband Nick and their children Axel and Kelsey; nephew Sean Wheeler, who loved Jacqui deeply, was away at college on the east coast.

Jacqui was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic, Triple Negative, Breast Cancer in March of 2020 with a prognosis of approximately 12 to 18 months to live. Jacqui, though, refused to accept that the life she had been building with Rick and their son Alex, which held so much promise for continued happiness and adventure, was about to come to such a sudden end. She was determined to beat those odds for survival and, in fact, seek to be cured. So began an odyssey (in the truest sense) that would have Jacqui & Rick and Alex move four times in less than five years. That was the easy part.

Learning about cancer – being treated for it – surviving it. That’s hard. Listen here to Jacqui’s own words written in a letter to one of the many doctors she enlisted in her quest.

“I am an optimist. I am resilient. I know how to advocate for myself. I can do hard things. When I was diagnosed, I scoured the internet day and night looking for any possible treatments that could cure MTNBC.  I was not naïve and knew this was an aggressive form of cancer.”

There are too many books she read to be listed here, too much information she gathered, and too many hospital stays and treatments she endured to go over. Jacqui tried. Call it a battle, or a journey. Call her a warrior. Mostly though, she was just a person wanting to live her life. Sadly, there was no cure for Jacqui. Eventually, “aggressive” had turned to “relentless” and she was wise enough to know the difference. She never gave up; but to know when to let go? Well, Jacqui could do hard things.

Throughout her life Jacqui faced a number of health challenges. At age 14 she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. In her mid-40s she was diagnosed with celiac disease. Cancer arrived the year she turned 50. She was resilient through it all.

There is however, far more to Jacqui’s story than just working through a continuing series of health issues. She lived a life full of accomplishments, adventures, and travel. At age 10 she danced in the Boston Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker leading to a ten plus year career in dance including Milwaukee Ballet and North Atlantic Ballet.  During that time, she also managed to attend college graduating from UMass Boston in 1998 some 10 years after graduating from Randolph High School. After her dancing career ended, she moved into the corporate world and was Manager of Human Resources at the nonprofit, human services organization Vinfen for many years.

Besides all of the hard work; dancing and rehearsals, studying, moving up through management levels, Jacqui was still able to find the time to just enjoy life. She traveled to Europe with Rick, visited Paris several times, and crossed the USA numerous times including an adventurous camping trip from San Diego to Boston while in her 20s. Rick proposed to her on a trip to the Sonoma area in California. She said yes. 

In her more settled years in the suburbs, she formed friendships with three other women who also became travel companions booking weekend getaways to different USA cities. In 2024, and despite the effects of the advancing cancer on her energy level, she managed trips to Hawaii with her best friend Apryl from her bohemian days in Boston, Sedona with the aforementioned “squad”, and Memphis to visit her warrior sister Stacy. There was the June wedding for son Will and his bride Elise where Jacqui showed up looking great and dancing like she was 20 again. 

In October, Jacqui sensing her time in this life growing short, travelled with Rick along with best friends Marlo and Ed, on a spectacular trip to Kenya for a two week safari. The planning and anticipation of what was to be the adventure of a lifetime was probably what kept her going for the last year. Early on, after a few days of feeding giraffes right from her breakfast table, riding a camel, and petting a blind rhinoceros, she texted home to family with the simple words “this is the happiest day of my life”. 

She loved all animals, or perhaps more accurately, she loved life. Rescued pit bulls, cats, and several aging dogs, one of whom was blind, lived out their days under her protection. Ants wandering into the house were escorted out the door, spiders too, and things with lots of legs. No living thing – with two legs, or four, or too many to count, ever had a bad day crossing Jacqui’s path. Hummingbirds visited her feeders regularly. She kept an animal “rescue kit” in the trunk of her car. Don’t ask about the injured racoon.

Throughout her all too short life Jacqui pushed herself to achieve. So, in a way, she was hard-driving. To be around her though, was easy. She couldn’t tell a joke because she always messed up the punchline…but she laughed a lot. Especially at herself. Her laugh was infectious. An introvert she was not. It’s been said that “Listening is an act of love” and Jacqui listened intently. Throughout her years of treatments at Lifespring Cancer Treatment Center under Dr. Ben Chue, Jacqui fostered a diverse group of people who became comrades in arms in the fight against their common enemy. For her, success for any one of them was success for all. 

What mattered most to Jacqui, and it was true from the very start of her life to the end of it, were people. She just loved us all and wanted us around her all the time. There was always a smile for anyone she’d meet wanting only the best for them. In those last few weeks of her life, seven of them, from her dancing years, from her world of work years, from her life in the suburbs, and from her cancer treatment ordeals, gathered together to be by her side at the hospital in Seattle.

Jacqui died, but her love never will. It lives on in her son Alex, a kind, compassionate young man who has shown maturity, love and caring beyond his years. It lives on with Rick and sons Will and Ben whom she embraced as little boys helping them grow to be accomplished young men. It lives within her sisters, Amy and Maureen, who knew her love every second of their lives. And in her parents who loved her every second of her life.

Jacqui was a shining light in this life, full of hope, optimism, caring, and good spirit.   “Love….  always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails”

We love you Jacqui.

A Celebration of Life for Jacqui will be held at Story Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts at noon on Sunday May 18th, 2025. All are invited. In lieu of flowers, kindly consider a donation to the MSPCA.