About Melissa

Melissa Bergman was born on April 27, 1978. On September 26, 1986, at the age of 8, she was diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma, which is a form of brain cancer. She was treated with surgery first and then radiation, to both her brain and spine leaving almost every organ affected. After the radiation, she endured  2 1/2 years of chemotherapy.  Her life evolved into a constant quest to cure her long-term effects from treatment. But, Melissa was one of the lucky kids who survived. In fact, she was the longest survivor of Medulloblastoma that Memorial Sloan Kettering had as a patient. She spent her lifetime visiting specialists of all kinds as the radiation began to affect most of her organs. However, she was considered in the top 5 percent of survivors for most of her life, based on her abilities and on her quality of life. 

Melissa loved God, her friends, and her family.  She sent every cousin a can from the Popcorn Factory while they studied for their first semester finals in college.  She was lucky enough to live independently in Florida and worked as a Disney cast member, adored by everyone in her roles as Mickey, Minnie, Pinocchio, Stitch, and Piglet.  She rescued two golden retrievers who filled her life with happiness.  

18 years after her diagnosis, she started to decline. She suffered the first of 9 seizures. And eventually began having strokes. She endured countless surgeries but she still volunteered at Give Kids the World and 2 local schools when she was unable to continue to work for Disney.

In 2018, she began to show signs of traumatic brain injury due to the cumulative effects of the radiation. She was forced to leave her home in Florida, which she loved, and return to New York to live with us, her Mom and Dad. The last four years were very tough.  She became wheelchair-bound and needed 24-hour care.  But, they were full of precious family time and countless memories. 

In the last months, there were several trips to Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland and New York Presbyterian Medical Center where we looked for any treatment that would improve or at least stabilize her health. Finally, we went to University Hospital in Cleveland where she had 3 more surgeries. She spent almost all of the last 7 months of her life in the hospital.

But don’t be fooled by the sadness of the situation. She lived her life to the best of her ability and beyond. She taught everyone she met about compassion and never once felt sorry for herself. When someone would ask her how she felt her famous words were always “ I’m ok. There are always people who have it worse than I do.”

There isn’t a person who met her that didn’t walk away impressed by the woman that they met.

Melissa succumbed to her illness on July 26, 2022. We miss her terribly, but we will do our best to carry on her legacy.  It gives us such peace to know that her brain is finally working at full capacity.  She can walk and run. She is free of pain.  Melissa has been and will always be our inspiration in advocating for those less fortunate than us.  We will continue pressing on in her memory with her unmatched tenacity and we will do our best to make her proud. I hope that we can do just as well as she did during the 44 years of her life.

Melissa's Legacy Foundation Inc., 20 Kevin Road, Commack NY 11725

EIN: 92 - 2979635

We are a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation.