A “sparky and determined” De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) graduate, who went on to work across the organisation, has died of a rare form cancer at the age of 31.
Friends and colleagues of Sally Zelenczuk have been left “devastated” after the associate project manager, who worked in the Transformation Office, fell rapidly ill in late 2023.
Colleagues said that Sally started to feel unwell late last year. While her symptoms were initially minor, she was told just before Christmas that she had some cancer showing on her liver.
After numerous tests and scans, doctors finally diagnosed her with metastatic adrenocortical cancer, an extremely rare and aggressive cancer. She died six weeks later, on February 22.
In a letter she wrote to friends at work after receiving her diagnosis, Sally said: “It does all feel a bit of a dream and very surreal at the moment but I don’t want anyone to take pity or shy away from talking about it or to me, the more conversation the better – I’m still the same person!
“I think my biggest challenge will be learning not to be so stubborn and independent and let my family and friends help out...something I’m not so good at letting go of!
“I really hope to see you all soon or make a visit when I feel well enough.”
Her manager, Business Change Project Manager Dana McCloughlin, said the note summed up Sally’s positive attitude.
She said: “Sally was so determined, in everything she did. At first, the illness was an inconvenience and she wanted to get on with work and do all the things she wanted to do, but it quickly became much more serious.
“It’s just so sad because we had worked out exactly what she wanted to learn in her job and were on our way to ticking them all off.
“From the moment we first interviewed her for this role, I could see she had her whole career planned out. Whatever most people might have said were weaknesses or gaps, she just saw as things to work on and improve. For someone who was then in her twenties, it was so impressive.”
Amy Murphy, associate director of talent and organisational development at DMU, had worked with Sally for many years.
She said: “I think everyone who worked with Sally assumed she was much more senior than she was. She was that capable, she had that much initiative. She was always the one in any group who would suggest a solution and people just latched on to that.
“In any meeting – even when we went remote during the pandemic – she brought so much energy. In April Sally got a cockapoo puppy, Dottie. Dottie was in so many meetings and we always had updates about what mess or trouble she had made.”
Sally, who lived in Hinckley, was a keen runner, taking part in several marathons and half marathons. She was member of Hinckley Running Club, running with them right up until December.
Amy said Sally’s death had made a big impact on her team.
“It’s been devastating,” she said. “We had a meeting where we spoke about it and we had a photo of Sally up and it was almost too much. She seemed to know everyone and to have come into their lives. She had so much energy.”
Sally first came to DMU as a student, studying Fine Art from 2011 and graduating in 2015. While there, she took on a role as a student ambassador, showing prospective students and parents around the campus and answering questions.
In 2018 she took a job at DMU, working as an administrator in the Arts, Design and Humanities (ADH) faculty. From there she took several different roles, including school coordinator, and learning and development advisor, moving into the People Services team and, finally, the Transformation Office.
Dr Josie Barnard, Associate Professor in Creative and Digital Practice, who worked with Sally in ADH, said Sally was a “warm and brilliant person”.
She said: “I remember when she got her own flat, she was so proud of the achievement. And she had a way of bringing you into that pride so you felt it with her, and for her.
“It didn’t matter that a chat with her might be over Teams, she included you and you felt connected with a real human being. I will miss that very much.”
Another of Sally’s colleagues, Jenny Jones, an ADH team leader, has helped start a collection of tributes from staff to create a memory book.
Jenny said: “After Sally died, I started to get so many messages from staff she’d known, so many kind tributes. Lots of people talked about her smile and her willingness to be helpful and patient.
“The idea is that we’ll create a book and present it to Sally’s parents.
“For me, I’ll always think of her on the phone, in my team, talking to people with complaints, people were often quite worked up and she had an instinctive way of calming them down, turning things around.”
To contribute to the digital memory book, send any words to jennifer.jones@dmu.ac.uk
Sally’s funeral service is set to take place at Countesthorpe Crematorium on Wednesday 13 March at 1pm. The service will be streamed for those who are unable to attend, and login details can be found here.
Sally’s family have requested no flowers, but instead would request that donations might be made to Neuroendocrine Cancer UK here.
Posted on Tuesday 12 March 2024