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Survivor Celebration on Race Day Breast Cancer Survivors who wish to be recognized may pick up their complimentary pink cap and pink t-shirt provided by Zeta Tau Alpha and RE/MAX at packet pick-up or at the Survivor Tent on Race Day. (Make sure you mark your entry form as a Breast Cancer Survivor.) All Breast Cancer Survivors are invited to visit the Survivor Tent area sponsored by OncoLogics, Inc., Stone Energy Corporation and Flow Services and Consulting on Race Day for special treatment. We would also like to invite participants to recognize those special people who have been touched by breast cancer. "In Memory of" and "In Celebration of" back signs will be available for all Race participants. (Back signs can be picked up at the Survivor Tent on Race Day.) The Breast Cancer Survivor Recognition Program is cosponsered by Zeta Tau Alpha and RE/MAX. We hope you will join us for this special part of the day.
2008 Honorary Team New Balance Member - Melissa Doise
Cancer is not Melissa's story - her LIFE is her story. She has lived heroically as a young single mother for a time, a sister, a friend, a co-worker, a fellow woman. All who know her, love her. Melissa "waltzes" into her office always with a smile on her face and concern for those around her. She has maintained a busy legal practice without missing a beat throughout all of her treatment. Her focus is never on herself. She is grateful for every day of life that she is given. Melissa's faith is the cornerstone of what has enabled her to walk this journey with a belief that her God is walking with her. There is no "why me?" in Melissa's mind set - She simply lives her life to the fullest with the hand that she has been dealt and along the way inspires all whom she touches. Melissa views life as a gift and her life has been a gift to so many. There are many heroes who walk among us. Those who know her are blessed to know and recognize Melissa as a woman of great courage who lives her life heroically in the face of this disease. |
Melissa was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 32, when her two young boys were 2 and 3 years of age. From the beginning she attacked her disease aggressively with a mastectomy, chemotherapy , radiation, and an autologous bone marrow transplant. She was "cancer free" for almost five years from her first diagnosis. Shortly before her 5th anniversary, she had a reoccurrence and was informed that the cancer had spread to her bones and liver. In late 2004, Melissa had a liver oblation and then went through surgery for the partial removal of her liver in the summer of 2005. She had what turned out to be a "brief" respite from chemotherapy, as the cancer reared its head again in her spine. Melissa has recently found out that she has three new lesions on her liver, as well as many bone lesions, and is back on a chemotherapy to which the cancer seems to be responding because her tumor markers have been going down.
