Melanie Day

Melanie Pearson Day is a former Brigham Young University basketball player and was part of the first run to the NCAA tournament Sweet 16. She has also been actively coaching and helping the BYU team. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 2003.

While nursing her second child, she knew instinctively that the pain she was experiencing indicated that she had breast cancer. She was diagnosed with possibly stage 3B metastatic breast cancer in 2013. She was pregnant at the time of her diagnosis and underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy. Her baby was born without any complications and after going through radiation, she was declared cancer free in 2014. The cancer returned one year later and she was told it was terminal stage 4. She began a blog to help her cope. “Living life to the fullest” became her mantra. She also created a bucket list. In a BYU Magazine article, she said, “I want other people to live like they, too, have five years to live. I used to say, ‘Someday, I want to do that. Someday.’ . . . I’m tired of saying no and thinking of all the excuses of why I can’t do it or why I shouldn’t do it. . . . I’m trying to fulfill my dreams.”[1] On her website she also said, “With my limited time left, I’m more concerned about the impact I have on people than visiting distant lands.”[2]