We lost our friend, colleague, and bright light in the breast cancer community Marlena Murphy. To know and work with Marlena was to love her. In 2018, at the young age of 40, Marlena faced a life-altering challenge when diagnosed with stage III triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This diagnosis, however, didn’t define her. Instead, it sparked a light within her to become a catalyst for change – to help others in similar struggles through advocacy for diversity in clinical trails, digital rights, peer support, and cancer navigation for communities.
At The Light Collective she worked with grassroots organizations to educate and teach the breast cancer community about digital rights and health privacy. Here were just a few examples of her amazing work which will continue to have a lasting impact:
No Aggregation Without Representation
It is powerful to witness someone choosing to share their gift, their voice for the greater good when facing their own mortality. Marlena shared her light with us.
For the last two years, Marlena worked with The Light Collective throughout her treatments, while in the hospital, while living her life with cancer. Through her advocacy at GRASP Cancer and the breast cancer community, was a co-author of the Patient AI Rights Initiative, and co-creator of our Roadmap to Collective Digital Rights.
With this work, she blazed new pathways for health technology to benefit African American Women with Breast Cancer, while working to protect her community from digital harm. While she can no longer be here, we hope her words and voice will continue to resonate with impact as we honor her legacy. But this was only a small part of her tireless work. She originally started on a path to advocacy with My Style Matters following her diagnosis in 2018. Marlena expanded her path to take on a role as Program Manager at GRASP (Guiding Researchers and Advocates to Scientific Partnerships), an advocate at TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation, and a Patient & Family Advisor at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. Working with National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), she focused on policy changes through the Cancer Patient and Advocacy Team (CPAT). She also served on the ASCO Clinical Trials Access and Inclusion Task Force. After completing her treatment in 2020, Marlena returned to academia to pursue a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Here was a recent interview she did with American Association for Cancer Research:
Cancer navigation and supporting her community was Marlena’s talent, life’s work, and purpose. She embodied strength, and channeling her time into being the change she wanted to see for her community. In her honor, My Style Matters has organized a campaign to help Marlena’s family pay for funeral expenses. Please consider donating here.
We love you, Marlena. You are always with us. You changed so many lives, and gave so much to make a better future for people with cancer. We carry your torch from here.
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