In Memory of Ellie Rosenfield
1952 - 2010
“Kicking her cancer to the curb” is her goal. Although Ellie Rosenfield is undergoing treatment with an experimental drug to arrest her disease of non-Hodgkin’s large B-cell lymphoma, her spirits are up and she’s “in it for the cure.”
“This drug is designed to interfere with cell division and it approaches the cancer differently than most chemotherapies,” says Rosenfield, associate dean for student and academic services at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
“When I received my diagnosis in March 2008, I joined Gilda’s Club Rochester (United Way designated donor agency) and met with executive director Beverly Brooks who is also a lymphoma survivor,” Rosenfield says. “Their group support has been invaluable in my marathon fight against cancer, and the encouragement from my extended family at RIT has been incredible.
“Donating to the United Way campaign has been a regular thing for me—knowing how it benefits our entire community. You just never know when it’s going to be your turn to need help.”
A family was born when Matthew Reynell and Jaime Burgos first visited James at Hillside Family of Agencies: Crestwood Children’s Center on Dec. 31, 2008.
“When he suddenly jumped onto Jaime’s lap and asked, ‘Are you going to be my new daddy?’ that clinched it,” says Reynell, senior financial aid information specialist at RIT. “We later called and said, ‘We can’t go on without seeing him.’”
They knew adopting an eight-year-old child who has lived in several foster homes would be “testing the waters.” A caseworker at Children Awaiting Parents jumpstarted their initial introduction, and “through the ongoing programs, caring staff and adoption support received from both Hillside and CAP (donor-designated agencies of United Way), James has gone from temper tantrums and failing grades to reading books, making friends and ear-to-ear smiles.”
“Sometimes I’ll say, ‘What am I going to do with you’ and James would always answer, ‘Keep me.’ But now he just laughs and says, ‘Oh, Dad.’”