The first time Margy McCook arrived for radiation treatment, she took her mother for support. She also brought a slew of nerves, fears and anxiety into the waiting room.

“The thing that I was thinking the most is, I am consenting to somebody radiating me,” McCook said. “Your whole entire life you’ve been told radiation is bad and to avoid it. That’s scary.”

McCook, 54, of Blue Bell, Montgomery County, was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in late January. She began radiation treatments at Penn Medicine earlier this month.