Stretching her arms across a pool table was agonizing. Pseudarthrosis - a condition that occurs following an unsuccessful spinal fusion surgery - bursitis and bicep tendinitis in her shoulders came later, along with carpal tunnel syndrome and severe sciatic pain.

Lee is committed to pushing through, despite the odds. “When’s the next time they’re going to laugh like that again?” she said. She described her daughters as sweet, loving and bubbling with laughter. Lee said though chemotherapy has been painful, “it’s nothing compared to what I think my children have to go through watching me.” “When I do cry, it’s always about the idea of my little girls.” “I don’t want to die, and I do worry about my girls,” Lee said. Lee’s thoughts immediately went to her daughters: Cheyenne, 16, Chloe, 11, and Savannah, 10. In January, doctors discovered the cancer. The medical staff told Lee she had fluid in her lungs and sent her to a hospital. Instead of a panic attack, she now figured that she had the beginnings of a bronchial infection. Only after four days of not being able to sleep, of feeling as if she were drowning whenever she lay down, did Lee visit an urgent care center. She had hesitated to go anywhere during the coronavirus pandemic because she had a compromised immune system. Throughout the winter, Lee dismissed her trouble breathing as a sign of a panic attack. Lee recently learned that she had Stage 4 ovarian cancer, causing her to tap into her well-developed skills of persistence and to worry about the future for her children. Now, she is facing perhaps her most difficult test in a life of pushing through adversity. Doctors belatedly discovered a severe kidney infection when she finally sought help. Back pain? A given, but the agony ratcheted up even more last year. In that chase, Lee, 49, became accustomed to brushing aside discomfort, which was as much a part of her life as her nose.Ī staph infection? She bandaged the wound for a few days, hoping it would heal on its own. “I don’t know why I felt like there was a race, but I always felt like there was and every minute I was playing pool, I was gaining on the people above me, and every time I was sidelined, I was just losing that edge,” Lee said. She learned she had scoliosis as a teenager and has undergone numerous procedures for the condition.Įvery vertebra from her skull to her tailbone is fused. Jeanette Lee, better known as the Black Widow, spent years dominating pool tables despite degenerative, debilitating pain and became a top-ranked women’s billiards champion. She recently learned she has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. If you can name just one billiards player, it’s probably Jeanette Lee, who is known as the Black Widow. Lee was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2013.The Black Widow of Pool Stares Down a New Challenge: Cancer Her career, however, was cut short by scoliosis. The article also mentioned that Lee made it to ESPN Magazine’s “The Body” issue, joined “Dancing with the Stars” in Korea, and was consistently included in Billiards Digest’s Most Powerful People list. She had an array of trick shots and earned the name “Black Widow'” for her steely demeanor during matches.ĪPA said her “competitive excellence, unique style and beauty made her the fan favorite and extended billiards to a broader audience.” She was immensely popular in the 1990s and early 2000s when ESPN regularly featured her and other billiards stars in televised tournaments. 1 in billiards, was a World Games Gold Medalist, and a WPBA, BCA and Asian Hall of Fame inductee. “Jim Valvano so eloquently told us to ‘never give up.’ I owe it to my three young daughters to do exactly that.”

“I intend to bring the same resolve I brought to the billiards table to this fight,” Lee said in a statement in which she cited former college basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993. Lee’s cancer has reportedly spread to her lymph nodes, and she vowed to fight the disease through whatever means possible, including chemotherapy and surgery. The GoFundMe page states she has only a few months left to live. Jeanette Lee, the billiards legend known as “Black Widow,” has announced that she had been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer.Īccording to a report by American Poolplayers Association (APA), a group of family members, friends, and business associates set up a GoFundMe initiative “for the care, well-being and education” of Lee’s three daughters aged 16, 11, and 10.

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