Help us honor and celebrate Donna Wilson's upcoming retirement

as we create

The Donna Wilson On-Demand Fitness Library

Dear Friends,

As you may already know, Donna Wilson, our beloved fitness instructor, is retiring in June after more than 30 years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Donna’s personal motto to “keep moving” has been a source of inspiration and strength for our community. She has had a transformative impact on our patients through her individual training sessions, thousands of group classes and many workshops. Donna has helped all who move with her regain their energy and strength. Not only has she improved the physical health of those she works with, but their overall well-being through all stages of their cancer journey. Her pioneering work with breast cancer patients and male cancer survivors has been described as challenging, fun and life changing.  It is hard to imagine what the exercise programming at MSK’s Bendheim Integrative Medicine would be if not for Donna’s passion, sprit and expertise.

Donna is moving into her next chapter, but we will carry her encouraging motto forward. I hope you will join us in this important effort by considering a gift to commemorate Donna’s retirement and many years of service to MSK. With your generosity, we will establish The Donna Wilson On-Demand Fitness Library. Currently, we have a small library of on-demand fitness videos for our Integrative Medicine at Home program of live fitness and mind-body classes.  This effort will help to build our on-demand digital library of classes to support patients before, during, and after treatment. Staying true to Donna’s message to “keep moving” the library will be a resource to engage patients on the value of fitness for people impacted by cancer, with context-specific videos on preparing for surgery, going through chemotherapy and radiation, and survivorship.

We are so grateful to Donna for her many years of service to the MSK community, from her start as a nurse in our pulmonary department to her dedicated service as a nurse and personal trainer in our Integrative Medicine Service, Donna truly embodies the three pillars of our center patient care, scientific research, and education. Through the Donna Wilson On-Demand Fitness Library, we can continue to inspire, educate, and reach new audiences with Donna’s s enduring message to “keep moving.”  Thank you in advance for helping us to honor this milestone in Donna’s life and for your kind consideration and generous support.  

Sincerely,

Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE

Chief, Integrative Medicine Service; Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine

**Please note that you will receive an automatically generated confirmation thank you note after you make your gift to support the creation of The Donna Wilson On-Demand Fitness Library. Our colleague, Melissa Sandler, who works in MSK’s Development Office is managing this fundraising page and her name will automatically appear in the confirmation you receive. We apologize in advance if this causes confusion, but please know that your gift will be directed towards the creation of the Donna Wilson On-Demand Fitness Library. Thank you again for your support and for helping to honor Donna as she celebrates her retirement.**