Danielle Michelle "Diem" Brown was an American television personality, philanthropist, and entertainment reporter. She was best known as a recurring cast member on the MTVreality television seriesThe Challenge. Brown founded MedGift, a website that provides a gift registry for patients and support pages to both people experiencing illnesses and their caregivers. She was an army brat in Baumholder, Germany before her family settled in the United States. She attended high school in Roswell, Georgia and obtained her bachelor's degree in communications from Florida State University. She was a member of Delta Gamma sorority. Since debuting on ' in 2006, Brown competed in seven additional Challenges. In her debut challenge, filmed in November 2005, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, to the surprise of both the cast and the production company. Her final season of The Challenge, ', aired in early 2015.
Reality television appearances
Fresh Meat was the twelfth season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge. Filmed in Australia, it featured two-player teams; each team had an alumnus of The Real World or Road Rules partnered with a newcomer to The Challenge who was never part of one of the two aforementioned series. Brown was partnered with Road Rules alumnus Derrick Kosinski, and the pair finished in fourth place in the competition. Brown, who was just completing her treatment for cancer, went on to compete in . She took off her wig during one of the competitions, and this has been viewed as one of the most memorable and touching Challenge moments.
Brown was an entertainment reporter and worked for the Associated Press, Sky Living, and FOXNews.com. She also blogged about her experiences battling cancer and thoughts on The Challenge for People.com and hosted the MTV.com special Surviving Cancer.
www.MedGift.com
The website MedGift was the brainchild of Diem. MedGift or www.medgift.com is a non-profit, web-based application that seeks to connect those in need with those who care. MedGift's objective is to help patients obtain support from family and friends while in treatment. She was also a patient advocate, speaking and appearing on numerous television and online shows and conferences. Brown took part in the first Stand Up to Cancer telethon as well as other charitable efforts such as MTV's Restore the Shore telethon for Hurricane Sandy. She was chosen as one of the initial 100 groundbreaking women to be profiled on MAKERS.com in 2012.
Personal life
Brown dated fellow Challenge castmember Chris "CT" Tamburello for over a year and a half after meeting on ' in 2006. Brown credited Tamburello for playing a role in her remission recovery and giving her confidence. The couple competed on the same team on ' and were featured on the MTV documentary show MADE, on which Brown aspired to learn how to salsa dance to regain her confidence. Following their split, Brown and Tamburello competed on ' as well as a team on ' and — they were the runners-up in the final of the original Exes.
Final years and death
In June 2012, after six years of remission, Brown's ovarian cancer returned. She delayed treatment to harvest eggs before undergoing surgery to remove her ovary and receiving chemotherapy treatments. In an on-air interview with Brown, Dr. Drew Pinsky characterized the choice to delay treatment as "risky." In 2013, Brown's cancer once again went into remission. Brown ended chemotherapy in February 2013, and later competed in her seventh Challenge season, , because she was told by doctors during her second bout with cancer that "seeing 2013 was not that likely." Brown and her rival partner Aneesa Ferreira finished in fourth place. Brown was diagnosed with cancer for a third time in June 2014, but initially shared this information with only close friends. Two months later, while filming her eighth and final Challenge competition, Battle of the Exes II in Panama, Brown collapsed on set, and was immediately airlifted to a New York hospital, where doctors performed emergency surgery. Though it was widely reported that she was diagnosed with colon cancer, Brown stated that her ovarian cancer had metastasized to her colon and stomach. Brown died on November 14, 2014. She spent her final hours in the company of friends and family. Shortly after her death, it was revealed that Brown's age had been misrepresented to the public. Her family supported the false information by including an incorrect age on programs distributed at her funeral, but later her sister was quoted in a People magazine article about the true facts as saying that Brown had felt that many years of her life were taken from her due to cancer and treatments, and that deducting two years was a response to those circumstances. Some media headlines and reports corrected her reported age at the time of her death in response to the later information. and various MTV alumni at the launch of Congressional Ovarian Cancer Caucus.
Legacy
In 2015 former The Challenge contestant and United States RepresentativeSean Duffy of Wisconsin, started the Ovarian Cancer Caucus alongside Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, an ovarian cancer survivor. In attendance were several other Challenge contestants, who came to honor Brown, whose death Duffy said “touched our MTV reality-TV family.” In attendance were Duffy along with his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy and her ' castmate David “Puck” Rainey, Norman Korpi of ', Derrick Kosinski of ', and Laurel Stucky of '.
Family
Diem Brown is survived by her father and three siblings. She was predeceased by her mother.
