MELINA'S STORY

On Thursday, June 3, 2010, "Our White Light" (Melina Elizabeth Riniolo) entered God's kingdom and became an ANGEL!  She will forever be "in our hearts" and always in our memory.  Melina you never gave up.  Your courage, strength and wisdom will continue to be spread.  Your family and friends will continue your fight here on earth and raise money to help doctors find a cure one day for Neuroblastoma.
                             Go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/missmelina. 
Our Melina….tough, honest, resilient, loyal, caring, stubborn, funny, artistic are just a few of her unique  qualities. 

At age 8 Melina was diagnosed with a tennis ball sized tumor in her adrenal gland.  I remember that day as if it were yesterday.  Three weeks before Christmas, sitting in the hospital waiting room , all fifteen of us watching the clock, Rosaries in hand ..tic..toc…tic…toc.  That was the day we first heard the word Neuroblastoma and  the day our lives change forever.

Five long years later and  Melina has endured 6 more major operations to remove tumors.  Fought through  55 chemotherapy treatments, 50 days of radiation, 3 experimental studies, loosing her hair 3 times ,three years at Roswell Park,  one full year of treatment in NYC and now over a year  in Vermont at the Vermont Cancer Center. 

To us Melina is a Hero.  Not because she was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma.  She didn’t choose to be sick but because inspite of it she fights it head on. Rolling with all the ups and downs it has thrown at her and believe me there have been many.  Somehow she finds away to hold it together hand in hand with her inner circle and Keeps Moving Forward.  She trust and believes that a treatment is out there that will help her. As sick as she has gotten HOPE always lives in her heart.

Dr. Giselle Sholler and her lab at the Vermont Cancer Center and partners along with the NB alliance is helping to fill that hope with solutions.  There is no cure for Neuroblastoma  but the search is on.   That’s why we need your help.  Melina needs your help.

As Melina falls asleep at night she closes her eyes and wraps herself in God’s healing light….His “White Light”.  She once wrote her dad and I a poem about US being her White Light.

Here is my version of our “White Light”:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                         Melina, You are are OUR White Light,
                                                                                                         Always lifting our spirits...When ours is low,
                                                                                                         Making US smile...When we thought it impossible,
                                                                                                         Sharing your strength...When ours is weak,
                                                                                                         Reminding us of God's White Light surrounding us...When we have forgotten,
                                                                                                         And we know YOUR White Light...Will live strong and surround us FOREVER.
                                                                                                                                          Love Mama and Daddy                                        
                                         

To stay up to date on Melina's progress click on this link:  www.caringbridge.org/visit/missmelina.  My sister, Lisa, does a wonderful job of keeping us informed whether they are away in Vermont or home in Clarence.  Keep a box of tissue near by.  Lisa and Joe, we all (family and friends) love you and the kids and are honored to be hosting this Cure Me I'm Irish fundraiser in Melinas honor.  We will be successful and help Dr Sholler find a CURE!