Melodina Herman Tribute Fund

Melodina passed away January 10th, 2009 at 10:00pm. She passed away peacefully and painlessly with her mom, dad, sister and brother (in law) at her side and snow falling gently outside.

It was 3 years to the day that Mel was admitted to the hospital for the very first time. In that time, she battled the most unimaginable medical obstacles and overcame nearly all of them. At first it was battling a mystery illness, then a splenectomy, a cancer diagnosis, chemo and radiation and a stem cell transplant. This last medical hurdle proved to be too much for her already fragile body, which was weakened by the amount of drugs she has had to be on in the past year since her transplant.

Mel was so many things to so many people and it didn't matter if you knew her or not - she touched a lot of lives. I wanted to thank everyone for whatever you have done in the last 3 years to support Mel and our family. Your support was a huge contribution to her battle. She drew her strength from us, as we drew our strength and inspiration from her.

Please take some time and visit our website at www.melodinatribute.org to stay informed of our current and future fundraising efforts on behalf of SickKids. You can also visit Melodina’s dad’s blog. It's a very good account of what Mel has gone throughin the past few years and shows how, in spite of all her health issues, she did so much for so many people in her short time with us. Please have a look and follow along as Mel's life continues to inspire others at http://teenwithcancer.blogspot.com/

Before Melodina passed away, she made it very clear that she did not want a traditional funeral or memorial, but rather, she requested that we hold a celebration of her life in honour of her memory. Mel's Celebration of Life was held on January 31st, 2009, the date that would have been her 18th birthday. In that one day, we raised over $10 000 for the Sick Kids Foundation through a silent auction and donations. Mel would have been so, so grateful and proud of all of her friends and family.

On January 28th, 2011, we hosted the first annual Ski and Snowboard Day in Melodina's honour. Through this event and your generous donations, we raised another $7000!

In addition, we are currently organizing the second annual Ski and Snowboard Day which will be held January 27th, 2012 at Mansfield Ski Club. More information will be posted online at www.melodinatribute.org

As proud as Mel would be of our fundraising efforts, I know she would not want us to stop there. Please be sure to come back anytime to donate again and to pass on this link: www.melodinatribute.org to anyone who may be interested in donating to Sick Kids Foundation in Mel's name (simply click on the “DONATE” link in the left navigation panel).

Thank you so much for helping us keep Melodina’s dream alive. Together we can go on remembering Melodina and continuing her work raising funds for sick children.

Melodina "Mel" Herman