Celebrities Who've Lost The Battle With Cervical Cancer ( part III )



Kay Medford



Kay Medford (September 14, 1914 – April 10, 1980) was an American character actress and comedienne. She was the original "Mama" in Bye Bye Birdie, starring opposite Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera on Broadway, garnering excellent reviews, but lost the film role to Maureen Stapleton. Medford appeared in the Warner Bros. rock and roll film, Jamboree (1957), in which she played the manager of singer Pete Porter, played by Paul Carr. Medford made her Broadway debut in 1951 in the musical Paint Your Wagon. She was cast in Carousel, before she appeared on stage in Funny Girl as the mother of Fanny Brice (played by Barbra Streisand); for this performance she was nominated for a 1964 Tony Award for Featured Actress (Musical),[2] and when she repeated the role in the 1968 film adaptation, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Medford was cast in guest-starring role on various television series, including the 1958 Beverly Garland syndicated crime drama, Decoy. From 1969-1970, she co-starred opposite John Forsythe in the CBS sitcom, To Rome With Love. Medford also had a leading role on NBC's The Dean Martin Show for several years.

Kay Medford never married. She died from cervical cancer in New York City in 1980.




Little Eva

Eva Narcissus Boyd (June 29, 1943 – April 10, 2003),known by the stage name of Little Eva (after a character from Uncle Tom's Cabin), was an American pop singer.

Born in Belhaven, North Carolina, she moved to the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York at a young age. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. It is often claimed that Goffin and King were amused by Boyd's individual dancing style, so they wrote "The Loco-Motion" for her and had her record it as a demo (the record was intended for Dee Dee Sharp).However, as King said in an interview with NPR and in her "One to One" concert video, they knew she could sing when they met her, and it would be just a matter of time before they would have her record songs they wrote, the most successful being "The Loco-Motion".Music producer Don Kirshner of Dimension Records was impressed by the song and Boyd's voice and had it released. The song reached #1 in the United States in 1962. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. After the success of "The Loco-Motion", Boyd was stereotyped as a dance-craze singer and was given limited material.The same year, Goffin and King wrote "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)" (performed by The Crystals) after discovering that Boyd was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied, with apparent sincerity, that her boyfriend's actions were motivated by his love for her.She continued performing until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October 2001. She died 18 months later in Kinston, North Carolina, aged 59, and is buried in a small cemetery in Belhaven, North Carolina.

Mary Lundby


Mary Adelaide Lundby (February 2, 1948 – January 17, 2009) was a state Senator from the Iowa's 18th District. She served in the Iowa Senate from 1995 to 2009, serving as Minority Leader from 2006 to 2007 and as Co-Majority Leader in 2006. She also served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1987 to 1995, serving as Speaker pro Tempore from 1992 to 1994. Prior to her election to the Iowa House, Lundby had served as the co-chair of the Linn County Republican party, as a member of the Linn County Republican Central Committee, and as staff assistant to then-senator Roger Jepsen. She graduated from Upper Iowa University, majoring in Political Science and History.

Lundby died on January 17, 2009 after a three-year battle with cervical cancer.

Nora Astorga

Nora Astorga Gadea de Jenkins (1948 — February 14, 1988) was a Nicaraguan guerrilla fighter in the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1979, a lawyer, politician, judge and the Nicaraguan ambassador to the United Nations from 1986 to 1988.
On February 14, 1988, "La Norita" died of cervical cancer in Managua, aged 39. She was awarded the title "Hero of the Fatherland and Revolution" and the Order of Carlos Fonseca on July 1987, which was the highest order of Nicaragua at the time.She appears as one of the twelve apostles in the mural of the Visitación at Casa Ave Maria in Managua. A barrio, or neighborhood, in Managua was named for her.

The 1986 song "Mariel" by the KBC Band was inspired by Nora Astorga.