After being informed she had cancer two decades ago, Kathy Giusti, founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, decided to try to do as much as she could in the time she had left, writes Adam Bryant for The New York Times.

Born in Blue Bell, Giusti started her career in sales, but believes that she became a much better leader after being diagnosed with cancer and given just three years to live.

“I had always been disciplined and had this level of urgency. But then I was told I had a fatal disease, and I was going to die,” she said. “And I had a one-year-old daughter. I thought that if I can stay alive until she turns five, maybe she’ll remember me.”

While getting funds to research and fight this relatively unknown disease was a challenge, she quickly found that people responded to her personal story much better than a description of the disease.

“It’s 20 years later, and I’m now in remission, as are many others,” she said.

Read the entire interview in The New York Times by clicking here.