My only child my sweet, brave & beautiful daughter Michele Ekaterini Ciufecu Broadley is a forever 24 year old cancer warrior that was taken from us way too soon. Michele loved to live life. She loved all animals, especially her cat Dusty and she loved traveling, especially to tropical beaches. Michele fought a three & a half year battle with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS). The cancer was initially found in her left inner forearm on July 26, 2013. Michele was only in remission for 3 months and in the fall of 2014 she relapsed with the ARMS spreading to both of her lungs. In the final year of her cancer journey, she was referred to another oncologist who tried a new chemotherapy that seemed to be working for a short time from February to June of 2016.
In Michele’s 1st battle with cancer, the treatment consisted of ten & a half months of weekly chemotherapy treatments outpatient & every 3rd week she received 3 chemotherapy treatments inpatient. In Michele’s 2nd battle with cancer, the treatment consisted of eight & a half months of weekly chemotherapies with the 1st week being inpatient with all 3 chemos every 3 weeks & also weekly outpatient chemotherapies. Through her cancer journey, Michele had six surgeries, daily radiation for 6 weeks in the first year & then multiple times after she relapsed, a multitude of scans, tests, doctor appointments, etc.
During her fight, she continued college and graduated from the University of Connecticut with a BA in Psychology & minoring in Women’s Studies. She held a 3.74 GPA with Magna Cum Laude high honors. She even started Graduate School for her Master’s Degree in Social Work at Southern Connecticut State University. She wanted to prove that, “yes, I have cancer; but cancer doesn’t have me”, as she would state on her Facebook page.
Michele Ekaterini passed away on September 28, 2016. She once wrote on a Facebook post, “I’m thankful for my struggle because without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.” She continues to be an inspiration to those closest to her with her #TeamM Facebook page.
