Cancer Survivorship: The Problem Nobody Was Solving
In cancer care, we often focus on diagnosis, surgery, chemo, and survival rates. But what happens after the “you’re cancer-free” conversation?
For Kelly McCabe, a former oncology clinician and now co-founder of Perci Health, that question kept coming back. After 15 years in frontline cancer care, she saw a clear gap: the after-care system was fragmented, reactive, and often absent.
“People were surviving cancer, but they weren’t really recovering from it,” she says.
McCabe wasn’t talking about more prescriptions. She meant the invisible burdens: fatigue, emotional trauma, anxiety, lingering physical side effects, and the deep mental toll of living through (and after) a life-threatening illness.
From Survival to Recovery: The Birth of Perci Health
Kelly met her co-founder, Morgan, at a crossroads. McCabe had the clinical expertise. Morgan brought a sharp understanding of digital transformation and consumer behavior. Together, they built Perci Health — a virtual clinic focused on cancer survivorship and long-term, whole-person care.
Their goal was clear:
Build the system that hospitals weren’t designed to deliver.
And that meant being clinical, scalable, patient-first, and multidisciplinary — offering everything from psychologists and fatigue experts to menopause support and nutritionists.
AI, But With Human Judgement cancer care
Let’s be clear — Perci Health isn’t just another AI health app.
Instead of replacing doctors, Perci uses AI to augment clinical decisions. The platform captures real-time symptom, behavioral, and medical data, helping adapt each patient’s care journey as their needs evolve.
This means a breast cancer survivor dealing with fatigue today may be matched with a sleep expert, and next month, a specialist in hormonal recovery. All without chasing referrals or waiting weeks for help.
“We’re not using AI to cut corners,” McCabe says. “We’re using it to scale clinical expertise — not replace it.”
Trust as Infrastructure, Not Just Branding
Building a virtual clinic in healthcare isn’t just about tech — it’s about trust.
Perci Health never branded itself as a wellness app. From day one, McCabe and her team committed to robust clinical governance, evidence-based practice, and a specialist-only team.
“We didn’t build Perci to hack the system,” she says. “We built it to serve patients in a way the system wasn’t.”
Still, they had to educate people. Cancer isn’t widely seen as a chronic condition — and a tech-led model for long-term care was unfamiliar. Perci had to simplify the story without dumbing down the science.
Redefining Leadership: A Personal Turning Point cancer care
While launching Perci Health, Kelly McCabe was also navigating a rarely talked about path: raising investment while pregnant.
Instead of hiding it, she used it to challenge what leadership could look like in healthcare startups.
“Leadership doesn’t mean doing everything. It means building a team that carries momentum — even when you step back cancer care .
She credits her co-founder and Perci’s investors for fostering that support. It shaped her leadership style: shared, vulnerable, and resilient.
Backing from Macmillan: A Major Signal Shift
One of the biggest milestones for Perci Health came when Macmillan Cancer Support invested through its Innovation Impact Fund.
“It wasn’t just funding,” McCabe recalls. “It was validation. cancer care.
Macmillan’s involvement was a powerful symbol that digital health and non-profits don’t have to sit on opposite sides anymore. Instead, they can align around a shared mission: better outcomes for people living with cancer.
The Healthcare System Isn’t Ready — Yet
Despite their success, McCabe knows the road ahead is long cancer care.
“You can’t assume the healthcare system is designed to reward the kind of innovation you’re building.”
Perci Health has had to redefine how it measures outcomes, how it proves value, and how virtual survivorship care gets paid for. It’s not easy. But it’s necessary.
Her advice to other founders in complex, slow-moving sectors?
“Respect the system. Don’t fight it. Learn it. Build evidence. And create the model that doesn’t exist — yet.”
Conclusion: Why Perci Health Is the Model to Watch
Perci Health isn’t just another digital health company. It’s a rethink of cancer care itself — from the ground up.
- Built by clinicians, not just coders
- Powered by AI that enhances, not replaces
- Focused on recovery, not just survival
- Backed by trusted institutions like Macmillan
- Led by a team unafraid to break startup stereotypes
As survivorship rates rise, so must our expectations for what life after cancer can look like. Perci Health is betting that personalised, human-first care will lead the way — and if Kelly McCabe’s vision holds, she might just be right.
