Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 32 in 1998, Randi Rosenberg was one of the original founding members of Young Survival Coalition (YSC) and its third board president. Her drive to enact change fueled her talented way of engaging the busiest people on the planet to get involved in solving the problem of early onset breast cancer.
Randi was incredibly smart, funny, inspiring and inquisitive. Although petite, her larger-than-life contagious, collaborative energy filled up a room and motivated others to accomplish common goals. She was a woman who could change the world … and she did.
It was Randi’s view that unlocking the answer to early onset breast cancer was the key to curing most women of breast cancer and that in order to force a national agenda, young survivors of all cancers needed to band together. Her work with the Steering Committee of LIVESTRONG’s Young Adult Alliance (now Critical Mass) in 2006 resulted in Closing The Gap: A Strategic Plan, one of the strongest and most powerful agendas in history to address young adult oncology issues.
She believed that the support young women received at YSC would sustain them in good times and bad.
Randi was diagnosed with bone metastasis in 2006. She died of her disease on February 15, 2010. She leaves behind her partner, Matt Purdue, their beautiful daughter, Alexandra Marais, brothers Lee and Scott, and her mother, Roberta (Bobbi) Rosenberg.
We will be forever grateful for the passion, dedication and joie de vivre that Randi gave to YSC. She taught us that significant change can happen when a few people unite to make a difference.
And so it is that we held a Research Think Tank last week in Randi Rosenberg’s honor - just one week shy of the three-year anniversary of her passing, as happenstance would have it. We gathered researchers, clinicians and advocates who care about increasing the quality and quantity of life for young women affected by breast cancer together in one room so we could collaborate at a level that Randi would have applauded. She truly believed that if we could unlock the key to why young women got breast cancer then we could perhaps better understand it in all women. The think tank proved that Randi lives on in so many of our hearts as we work together to try to improve young women’s lives.
We will honor Randi’s legacy and carry her spirit with us as we continue to ask the key questions that drive forward advances in research pertaining to early onset breast cancer.
