Outside of an interview with The Athletic last summer, you would have never known something was amiss - including through last week, when she frequently posted positive messages on social media. Pollex never gave any hints to the public she wasn’t doing well. But this time, after running out of effective options - both with cancer drugs and surgery - her body didn’t have the defenses it needed for a fourth victory. At one time, she was in remission for nearly three years. In the years since, Pollex beat cancer three different times. “God has blessed me with this much time on this earth, if He takes me now, then whatever I’ve done and whatever I’m blessed to do, then let that be my legacy here.” I’m going to be a happy person while I’m living it and whatever happens happens. “I just thought, ‘I’m gonna live every day and I’m going to live it to the best of my ability. “I haven’t felt sorry for myself a day since,” she said. Taking Byrnes’ words to heart, Pollex decided to intentionally feel grateful she had reached age 35 before her diagnosis and became determined to find purpose in all of it. But weeks later, while talking to the late NASCAR broadcaster Steve Byrnes, who passed away from cancer in 2015, she had a change of perspective.īyrnes had told her about receiving chemotherapy with a 97-year-old woman on his right and a 19-year-old on his left, and it made him realize cancer does not discriminate. She threw herself to the floor in agony over the news. That was her “Why me?” moment, she later recalled. Instead, doctors discovered she had 40 to 50 tumors in her body, would need to have surgery five days later and require a radical hysterectomy that meant she would never have children. Maybe this was what being pregnant felt like, she thought. Pollex was trying to get pregnant in 2014 when she realized her stomach felt bloated. But on other days, it’s like, ‘You know, I’ve been given this really important role in this life, and if I’m going to leave a legacy behind and help other people, then I need to do it 100 percent.’” “On some days, that can be a really hard pill to swallow. “It’s maybe not what I would have chosen for myself - nobody really wants to be the poster child for any type of cancer - but maybe I’m supposed to go through all this so I can pave the way for other women. “I often wonder if that’s my purpose here,” she said last July. She never planned on being an inspirational disease fighter - who would? - but found a way to mentally wrap her arms around an unenviable situation. before their breakup late last year, Pollex impacted countless lives in a positive way. But cancer cannot erase the lessons she gave us unless we fail to remember them, so we can’t make the mistake of letting them fade away.Īs the longtime partner of NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. Pollex died early Sunday morning at age 44, with cancer taking a beautiful soul whose presence was a gift to so many.
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