The Live Like Mel Foundation officially released its new website on December 2, 2019, one year after the day Melanie and her family discovered she had a brain tumor. The Foundation’s website will be used as a platform for providing scholarships and awards for educators as well as providing resources to those impacted by glioblastoma brain cancer.
The website allows for individuals to make online tax exempt donations directly to the Foundation. All funds received by the nonprofit Foundation will be solely used for financial awards for educators as well as funding expenses to create and distribute information to quickly assist families impacted by Glioblastoma, since time is of the essence with this type of cancer.
CLICK HERE to go to the donation page.
The first awards provided by the Live Like Mel Foundation were given in May 2019 to three educators at Montpelier Elementary School where Melanie taught for over 28 years. The Educator Grants provided will allow teachers to fund specific projects at the school to create hands-on and experiential learning opportunities for students. The Foundation plans to offer Educator Grants again in 2020, potentially expanding the offering at other schools in the area.
In addition to the 2020 Educator Grants, the Foundation also plans to offer scholarships to high school students in the spring of 2020 to be used for secondary educator. Preference will be given to students planning to go into the field of education.
Details about all 2020 Live Like Mel Awards will be posted on the website in early 2020. An official announcement will be released for each award type on the Live Like Mel Facebook Page. You can also subscribe below to the Foundation’s mailing list to receive the latest updates.
Later in 2020, the Foundation plans to create a team to begin exploring how best to help patients and families who are impacted by glioblastoma brain cancer. The main expectation will be to provide free, educational resources that will allow patients and families to quickly navigate the plethora of information available in online forums.
Melanie’s family spend over 100 hours researching the most effective ways to best help her survive. Unfortunately, each family impacted by glioblastoma spends the same amount of time if not more trying to best help their loved ones. And to compound the situation, medical professionals only provide the information that is within their specific field of practice.
Very few professionals will provide all ways to help families’ loved one. Oncologists only provide information on how to best treat the cancer from standard protocols. Dieticians only provide information related to foods, and even then, they only can provide the diet that they have been certified or trained to provide. Any type of holistic and new forms of treatment, including diet, exercise, alternative supplements, and herbal treatments like cannabis all need to be researched separately by family members.
There is not one source of all of the information which then forces family members to become their own project managers. And this type of research becomes stressful. If each family is going through the same thing, then why can’t we all come together to begin aggregating our findings to the supply all potential options to families that are impacted. Even though the information would not provide the exact holistic plan since each patient’s needs are slightly different, a range of options will help families quickly narrow down their options and better focus their time, thus creating less stress and a more comprehensive plan covering all aspects of treatment and not only the standard form provided by oncologists.
The Live Like Mel website will be an information source for families impacted to quickly obtain information to help them better make decisions. The information will be an aggregation of information collected through many sources and by families who have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours researching the most effective treatment methods.
If you have been impacted by glioblastoma or have a family member that has been impacted and would like to be a part of the team to aggregate information, please send an email to cory@livelikemel.org.
December 2, 2018, will be a day Melanie’s family will never forget. During the morning, Melanie was going to make herself some tea as she had done everyday for years. However on this day, she was confused and unable to locate where she stored the tea.
Days and weeks earlier, Melanie’s family and husband had noticed small differences in her behavior and began watching her actions more closely. After she was unable to locate something she had always been able to find, Melanie’s husband Mike, took her to the emergency room in Angola, Indiana. It was at this hospital when the ER doctor explained to Mike and her son Cory that she had a tumor and it would be necessary to transfer her to a larger hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to perform an MRI.
It was discovered days later than Melanie had an incurable form of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. Two months later Melanie passed away in her home surrounded by her family.
The Live Like Mel Foundation is a non-profit organization that continues the legacy of former Ohio educator, Melanie B. Sutter, who passed away on February 2019, from glioblastoma brain cancer. The purpose of The Live Like Mel Foundation is twofold: 1) to support the field of education by recognizing and providing financial assistance to future and current educators and 2) to support individuals and families impacted by glioblastoma by providing educational information and resources.