Dan Lanigan/ Christine Van Mulders: Two for the Road

Although they live only 10 minutes apart, chances are that Dan Lanigan and Christine Van Mulders might never have met if she hadn’t needed rides to cancer treatments. But on a spring day last year, Lanigan drove to Van Mulders’ home in the town of Washington, and it didn’t take long for a friendship to take root.

Lanigan, 73, retired in 2012 and moved to Rappahannock the following year. Two years ago, with a goal of staying active, he responded to a note on RappNet and became a volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery. He also now drives for VolTran.

“You get to meet people from different walks of life, with different backgrounds,” he said. “People I wouldn’t normally run across in my daily life.”

That certainly included Van Mulders, a 76-year-old widow who still speaks with the accent of her native France. She was unable to drive at the time, and wasn’t sure how she would get to her radiation and chemotherapy treatments in Culpeper. She first called a ride service whose card she had picked up in a store, and they referred her to the American Cancer Society.

Lanigan said they hit it off from the start. “We were never at a loss for conversation,” he said. “We talked about our families, food, cooking, France, life in Rappahannock. The list goes on and on.” He shared stories about his twin granddaughters when they came to visit last summer; she told him about driving the tractor around her property after her husband became wheelchair-bound, and about a bear that climbed up on her deck.

The conversations went on for five months, during what Lanigan estimates were at least a dozen trips together. When she could, Van Mulders would try to schedule appointments near lunchtime, so she could treat him to a meal. It was her way of showing her appreciation.

In late September, Lanigan drove her to the Emily Couric Cancer Center in Charlottesville. She had a scan in the morning and then, after lunch together, Van Mulders went to meet with her doctor.

When she came out of the office, Lanigan recalls, she had a big smile on her face.

“I asked her, ‘Did things go well?’ And she just said, ‘It’s champagne time, Dan.’”

Van Mulders had just been told she was cancer-free. It was wonderful news. For both.