Melanie Madeleine Rosay (Apr 10, 1973 – Nov 16, 2020)

This fund was created to honor Melanie's intelligence, determination, generosity, love of family & friends and adventurous spirit.​

Thank you for your consideration!

MELANIE'S CANCER

In late 2015 Melanie was first diagnosed with breast cancer. A tenacious woman, she won her initial battle and worked hard to maintain excellent health. Melanie had the expectation of a long, happy life with her husband Paul and daughter Kate, and the continuation of her fulfilling career as a scientist at Bruker Biospin.

An avid hiker, skier and runner, Melanie hiked and backpacked with family in Alaska in August 2020 and ran a trail half-marathon in September. She was in fantastic shape, yet soon after the race she began to experience unexplained fatigue.

On October 5th she was hospitalized, just two months shy of her 5-year, cancer-free anniversary. Melanie's diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her liver.

Sadly, Melanie succumbed to this aggressive, fast-moving cancer on November 16, 2020. We miss her very much.

RESEARCH

There is currently no cure for metastatic breast cancer which accounts for roughly 40,000 deaths each year in the US. Our desire is to change this.

Donations  to Melanie's fund support Dr. Rinath Jeselsohn's Lab which focuses on discovering why HR+ breast cancer tumors become resistant to treatment.

Dr. Jeselsohn's team plans to advance a new preclinical model to better understand why this type of breast cancer is non-responsive to immunotherapy. The goal is to identify tumor vulnerabilities that can be exploited to greatly improve the efficacy of targeted or combination therapies.

WAYS TO GIVE

Click on the blue "DONATE" button to make a donation by credit card or Donor Advised Fund.

Or checks may be made payable to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, noting "Melanie Rosay Fund for Breast Cancer Research" in the memo.

Please mail checks to: 

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Division of Philanthropy

10 Brookline Place West

Brookline, MA 02445-7226