Remembering Battles Lost: Crissy Miele

Breast Cancer Awareness Month turns a pink spotlight on our health. For some of us, it’s a reminder to . For others, it’s a chance to join an event that raises money for research or celebrates the survivors in our communities.

For those who have lost a loved one to breast cancer, we honor them with races, with luminaries, with moments of silence. Though lasts only 31 days, we never forget.

In Patch communities all over the country, we wanted to help pay tribute to lost loved ones by publishing their photographs on Patch.com. Here is one tribute shared with us:

We would like to remember our friend Cristine Meredith Miele who we lost just over a year ago to breast cancer.  Crissy was a valiant warrior in the fight against cancer.  She battled the disease for 12 years, and continued the fight to the last weeks of her life, never giving up hope that she would somehow beat cancer.  She was only 41 years old.  Crissy’s amazing strength, determination, generosity, and love of her family and friends continues to inspire us all.

Crissy’s 16-year-old daughter, Alex Miele, summed up her mother’s enduring spirit so perfectly at her memorial service, “…she touched so many people’s lives.  She changed lives.  Her remarkable outlook on life was enough to convince you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out and live your life… For those of you who knew my mother well, you’ll know she was a big believer in pay it forward.  So please, if you were touched by her kindness, pay it forward, because I know that’s how she would have wanted it.”

was founded in Crissy’s memory and dedicates its resources to risk assessment and early detection, the only sure ways to defeat breast cancer deaths.  The Foundation, in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is currently helping fund an integral piece of a large gene discovery project, aimed at identifying novel causes of breast and other cancers in families who do not have mutations of known genes such as BRCA 1/2.

If you would like to learn more about the Cristine Meredith Miele Foundation or make a donation, please visit the website:

http://www.cristinemeredithmielefoundation.org/

We miss you Crissy!

The friends of The Cristine Meredith Miele Foundation

We want to hear your story. You are welcome to share your experiences, memories or tributes to the men and women in your life who have faced the battle with breast cancer with others in our online community. You can even submit video tributes of your loved one.

Ways to Share

• E-mail me at noel.aliseo@patch.com
• Comment here with a story or a memory
• Upload your own photo or video to the photo gallery on the right