Jeanette Lee is not backing down from her fight against ovarian cancer. News broke of billiards legend’s diagnosis when a GoundFundMe page was created by her friends. “The Black Widow” then released a statement confirming the news.
“I intend to bring the same resolve I brought to the billiards table to this fight,” Lee said, as reported by AZBillards.com. “Jim Valvano so eloquently told us to ‘Never give up.’ I owe it to my three young daughters to do exactly that.” As of Thursday evening, the GoFundMe page has raised over $66,000. The money will go to Lee’s daughters – Cheyenne (16), Chloe (11) and Savannah (10), so they can attend college.
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“Those of us who are closest to her know that the last ten years or so has not been kind to Jeanette,” the GoFundMe page states. “The scoliosis that has plagued Jeanette since childhood has continued to progress. In fact, it has been suggested that the scoliosis masked the pain from the cancer in part allowing it to progress undetected for so long. The increasing effects of scoliosis has not allowed her to play at the highest level for years now and has limited her ability to make a living.”
Lee has been diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer, and doctors gave her some grim news. But that hasn’t stopped Lee from fighting. “The cancer has fully metastasized into her lymph nodes and the prognosis is dire,” the GoFundMe page says. “At this stage, her doctors say she has a few months to a year left to live. In typical Black Widow fashion, she has vowed to fight the progress of her disease as fiercely as possible with both chemotherapy, which has already begun, and a succession of upcoming surgeries.”
Lee was one of the top Billards players in the 1990s and 2000s. She became a household name in 1994, winning three WPBA Classic Tour events, the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship and the WPBA Nationals. That led to her being named Player of the Year from Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine. Her success at the pool table led to bigger projects. Lee was featured in ESPN Magazine’s “The Body” issue and was a contestant on Korea’s Dancing with the Stars. Lee also made an appearance in the Disney film The Other Sister.
