DONNA MACDONALD
19 YEAR BONE CANCER SURVIVOR
Donna MacDonald, a Rhode Island native, started dancing at a very young age, fell in love with it and continued that passion her whole life. She graduated from Dean College as a dance major, studying ballet, tap, jazz, musical theater, and contemporary dance, she is also a member of the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston.
She started working straight out of college with Current Dance Company of Massachusetts, performing ballet and contemporary dance. After three years, she ventured to New York City and started auditioning. She landed a job with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus as a dancer. She performed with them for the next four years all over the country. Not only did she perform many genres of dance, but participated in many PR events, backstage tours, handled an elephant and other animals in the pre-show and during animal walk, and helped to set up electric and lighting for ring 3.
Touring the country for many years can take a toll and she wanted to settle in one city. She returned to RI, took an EMT course, which in turn led her to test for the Providence Fire Department. She was a part of the department's Honor Guard, Peer Fitness Program, Critical Stress Debriefing Team and Firefighter Combat Challenge Team.
She was a firefighter for fifteen years, until occupational bone cancer forced her to retire. The cancer was Chondrosarcoma of the sternum. She had to have her sternum removed and replaced with a prosthetic. Over the years, she has had a total of four surgeries on her chest, four on her right wrist with metal replacement parts and one surgery on her left wrist. This was all due to the effects cancer has on the body.
She found support with the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. Donna later joined the network and volunteered as the RI State Director, Vice President East and is now the Chairman of Female Firefighters with Cancer, working on research for women firefighters, teaching and speaking all around the country.
During those fifteen years, she danced professionally with Fountain Street Creative, and Beledi Dance Company (belly dancing) performing all over New England on her days off from the fire department.
She now resides in Vero Beach, FL, where she is an in-home personal trainer, CPR instructor with Emergency Medical Consultants, a dance instructor, and of course continues to perform and co-choreograph with The Cancer Dancers.
The motto she lives by is "Adapt and Overcome".
