Oprah Winfrey pledged $15,000 to radio veteran Mel Dee Dzelde during the Ali Clarke Breakfast Show on Friday, November 18.
Stars have rallied around Mel, including Winfrey, who delayed her plane trip by over an hour to offer her support and make the pledge.
For the past week, Ali and the team at Mix 102.3 have been sharing the story of Mel and her husband, Chris Dzelde, who are both well-known names within the Adelaide radio industry. Sadly, although Mel has overcome cancer on three occasions, she has been diagnosed for a fourth time with stage 4 rectal cancer. Mel was dealt another blow when diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) last year.
Mel’s dream is to enjoy a big family Christmas, and while she can’t get home to celebrate, Mix 102.3 were determined to bring Christmas early to her and the people of the Mary Potter Hospice.
Yesterday morning, Ali and the team at Mix 102.3 were joined in studio by sister station Power FM for a simulcast breakfast show, along with a number of special guests, in a bid to bring some Christmas spirit and raise funds to help ease some of the Dzelde family’s financial pressures.
During the show, Winfrey, who has known Mel for over 20 years, called through from the US to send a message of support (before pledging $15,000 off air), telling Mel: “You are such an inspiration, you are the greatest human spirit we have all witnessed. We have never met a woman like you.
“Christmas is whatever day you make it because it lives in your heart, and it’s an expression of pure love coming from all the best places. I know that everybody is there just to show you how much we care about you and how much you mean to us. So blessings to you and thankyou for all the grace and inspiration you have given to all of us.”
The Go Fund Me Page set up for the Dzeldes has raised over $75,000. Oprah’s pledge reads:
“Mel you are what Maya Angelou was talking about when she wrote the poem “Phenomenal Woman”. Your Life and the Light you carry has been an inspiration to all who know you. What a blessing you are. I hope this outpouring of friends and people who barely know you .. Blesses you in all ways imaginable.”
Mel first met Oprah Winfrey in 2002 when she travelled to Detroit to attend an International Women’s Conference at which Oprah was the keynote speaker. Mel and Oprah met and stayed in touch, and when Oprah launched her Australian tour more than a decade later, she invited Mel and ten friends to her Adelaide show and told the audience that she’d added the city to her schedule at Mel’s suggestion. The two have stayed in contact since.
A number of other special guests and local celebrities joined Friday’s show to help drive donations, including Erin Phillips, singer Kate Ceberano, Adelaide Crows player Rory Sloane and musician Diesel; Lauren De Cesare and Hayley Pearson from Adelady, cabaret superstar Hans the German, TV and radio personality Anne Wills and WSFM’s Amanda Keller.
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Top image: Mel Dee Dzelde, Ali Clarke, and Chris Dzelde