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A Carson City woman, whose public battle with terminal cancer became even more surreal when her 11-year-old daughter died from complications of the flu, succumbed to her illness Sunday.
Danielle Conway, 39, died at the home she shared with her mother and champion, Norma Conway.
A fundraising effort by Norma in which she recruited 17 female friends over the age of 40 to pose semi-nude for a calendar, brought her daughter's battle into the public eye. The tongue-in-cheek Carson Calendar Girls product raised money to help offset the hundreds of thousands in mounting medical bills for Danielle's care.
Diagnosed with an aggressive form of colon cancer, the unexpected and sudden death in February of Kyra, a Carson Middle School seventh-grader, buckled Danielle's steely determination, the Carson High graduate had said two months ago.
But still, said Norma, "she struggled really hard. I had a feeling she wasn't quite ready to go.
"She was in Renown for about two weeks, and when she got out of there, things were a little different. The pain was becoming a lot more intense. We knew that the cancer had really come back with a vengeance."
Whether it was a side-effect of Danielle's medication, or a subconscious recognition of the inevitable, just days ago Norma walked in on Danielle having a conversation with her deceased father and grandparents, she said.
"She was looking for Kyra. And she was telling my dad she was waiting to see him."
A celebration of Danielle's life is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. in the amphitheater on the Legislative lawn. Family and friends are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and lawn chairs and spend the day together on the grass under the sun.
"She loved to go to the parks here in town, particularly at Mills Park, and Bowers Mansion. She loved to be in the grass outside, so it seems more applicable to Danielle's lifestyles and the things that she liked," Norma said.
In addition to her mother, Danielle is survived by her son, Mitch, 18; sister Diane and brother-in-law Garreth Strand; brother Dennis and sister-in-law Marcia Conway, numerous nieces and nephews and a great niece.
A message posted Sunday on Carsoncalendargirls.com read:
"Today, Danielle joined her daughter Kyra. Her two-year struggle is over."
- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.