Melinda Dunn

In January 2012, Melinda Dunn, 57, a wife, mother and formerly a software implementation project manager for an international shipping company was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. Because her husband, Paul, who had been diagnosed with stage IV melanoma 13 years prior and who was receiving treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center, she knew the system and was comfortable with being treated at MD Anderson. After three years of chemo, Melinda was transferred to targeted therapy after a biopsy found her positive for the BRAF gene mutation. Christmas of 2015, she was told she had no evidence of lung cancer. Although, initially, Melinda was depressed and felt guilty about her diagnosis, she is now at a place where she plans her life without letting the diagnosis get in her way. As a volunteer at Cancer Connection, she helps fight cancer with hope. In her own words, Melinda offers this advice: “Listen and know what your options are, be comfortable with your doctor, look out and do not give up. Do what it takes to be there for your family. Realize how lucky you are.”