Melissa Boesel started Jensen's Heart of Gold in 2010 after her son lost his three-year battle against cancer at the age of 5 years old.

The foundation specifically helped local families with children who were diagnosed with cancer.

Boesel and her husband, AlanShane "Squeak" Boesel, met as his kids helped with fundraising for Jensen's Heart of Gold. Years later, the two started dating. About two months after that, she found out she had cancer, and Squeak proposed.

On March 19, Boesel passed away after fighting the same cancer as her son, succumbing 45 years older. She and Squeak were married for just over two years.

"She gave her entire life to doing stuff for others," Squeak said. "… It didn't matter if you needed money, if you needed a ride, if you needed just somewhere to lay down and cry; she'd be there for you."

Jensen's Heart of Gold has raised over $1 million to help the families of children with cancer in Baldwin and Mobile counties not suffer financial burdens that come with such a diagnosis, according to her obituary.

Music was something that brought them together, and Squeak is planning an upcoming "Melapalooza" celebration of life event with details likely to be posted on Facebook as they are worked out.

Boesel grew up in Bay Minette and worked in Baldwin County as a physical therapist for many years after earning her masters degree in the practice.

"There's not one person you can ask that knows Melissa that can't say she's helped them somehow or made them laugh or just made something better for them," Squeak Boesel said. "She just made things better. No matter what you were going through, she was going to try to help."

After becoming a regular patron at Glow Yoga in Gulf Shores, she eventually became a teacher at the place where so many came to know her.

Yoga became a central part of her life and what many people remember as one of her biggest passions, especially when it came to using yoga as a way to help others.

Jennifer Guthrie, owner of Glow Yoga and a Gulf Shores councilwoman, said Boesel brought people together from all walks of life.

"Nothing was impossible for Melissa," Guthrie said.

In one particular instance, Guthrie remembers working alongside Boesel in the studio with a man who couldn't move half of his body after having suffered a stroke.

"And we got him walking," she said. "… She's just so in the fabric of what Glow has become and will always be. That's one thing to me that gives me peace with her not being actually here is that there's nowhere I can look at Glow and not feel her presence."

A COMMUNITY BUILT THROUGH YOGA

Boesel met one of her best friends, Lindsay Sturm, during their time at Glow Yoga. After the two started hanging out outside of the studio, they easily fell in step with each other.

Sturm remembers how Boesel always had the goal of showing people "that it's OK to struggle." She shared and posted on social media openly and honestly about her cancer journey and the loss of her son.

In addition to her son, both of Boesel's parents died cancer. She herself had beaten it twice.

Despite everything she went through, she never stopped helping others.

Sturm said Boesel was always "soft and open to the world" when she could have hardened and become angry with life.

Boesel loved to travel and often went on trips with her friends and family, from Thailand to Sedona, Arizona, and went on mission trips to Haiti for several years to teach children yoga. Just about everyone has a "the trip I went on with Melissa…" story.

Rachel Austin also met Boesel through Glow Yoga but didn't truly become friends with her until they were on a group trip to the British Virgin Islands.

One of her favorite memories with her friend is on a girls' trip on a sailboat, where at some point everyone played hot potato using their feet after being prompted by Boesel. Austin remembers how the laughter was contagious.

"In the end, we still had happy moments, and we would still get together and laugh even when she was in so much pain," Austin said. "She was a fighter. It's like, 'if Melissa can do this, I can,' you know, 'my problems are not near as big, and she can get through this with a good attitude.'"

"She really was just such a light in this world, and I am happy for her," Strum said. "Her journey has been hard, and she's now at peace, and I know in my heart she is reunited with her son and her parents and so many other children that she had befriended through her program."

In addition to her husband, Boesel is survived by her daughter, Jayden Byrd; stepchildren, Raeleigh and Parker Boesel; and brother, Jason Price.