Although Melissa Difatta was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 15, she continued to chart her future.

“My daughter never dwelled on her illness,” Debra Difatta said. “She was always planning for something better. She never let the thought that she might die enter her mind.”

Melissa Difatta of Hampton, editor of the literary magazine Three Rivers Review at the University of Pittsburgh, died on Monday, Aug. 9, 2010, at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Lawrenceville. She was 21.

Her mother recalled her daughter’s love of writing. “We always knew that Melissa would do well as a writer. Melissa kept a diary of her activities throughout the third grade.”

Born and raised in Hampton, Ms. Difatta was one of two daughters in the family of produce broker Frank Difatta and his wife, Debra Difatta.

Despite being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s, Ms. Difatta continued to be active in many school activities, serving as director of the drama club during her senior year at Hampton High School.

Following graduation in 2007, Ms. Difatta, whose illness was in remission, enrolled at Hobart William Smith College in New York on a creative writing scholarship.

“But she had a relapse and returned home after three weeks,” said her mother. “She took a year off from school and had a bone-marrow transplant before she enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh.”

In 2009, Ms. Difatta won the Undergraduate Creative Nonfiction Award from Pitt for “The Bone Marrow Queen,” a memoir of her experience.

One of her closest friends was Andy Polefrone of Hampton, a Cornell University fine arts graduate who was with her through her bouts with Hodgkin’s and her bone-marrow transplant.

“We dated and spent time in art galleries and attended fiction and poetry readings,” Polefrone said. “Melissa was a woman who lived with more purpose and determination than any person I ever met.”

In addition to her parents, Ms. Difatta is survived by a sister, Shelley Difatta of Hershey; and grandparents, Mary Ann and Frank P. Difatta of Cheswick, and Aurelia Zelazny of Cranberry.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today at Herbert R. King Jr. Funeral Home, 2841 Woodland Circle, Hampton.

The funeral will be Friday in St. Catherine of Sweden Church in Hampton. The time is to be announced.

Memorial donations may be made to the Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 333 E. Carson St., Suite 441, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. The organization supported Ms. Difatta financially and emotionally through her illness.

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