| | Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A 12-year-old girl who was a staunch
fund-raiser for Lance Armstrong's cancer research foundation has
lost her long fight against the disease.
Kelly Davidson died Tuesday at her parents home in Fort Worth,
according to officials. She suffered from neuroblastoma, a cancer
in children.
"She was a fighter and she fought it to the end," said Lauri
Adams, of the Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth, where Davidson
had stayed on and off for about a year while undergoing
chemotherapy. "We are all better people for knowing her."
The last time Davidson stayed at the Ronald McDonald House was
earlier this year, Adams told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Officials with the Armstrong foundation and the cyclist himself
did not immediately comment on Davidson's death, citing a request
by the girl's family.
"Kelly was the top fund-raiser for the 1999 Race for the Roses
event in Austin benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation and
cancer patients everywhere," according to an obituary in the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram.
"Though she did not beat cancer, Kelly was and shall always be
a winner," the obit said.
Davidson met Armstrong three years ago as she struggled through
chemotherapy and the two became friends. Armstrong has since come
back from cancer to win the Tour de France the last two years.
But the 28-year-old cycling champion never forgot Davidson, whom
he sent several gifts and wished her well on camera while riding in
the 1999 Tour de France.
Besides her parents, John and Jamie, Davidson is survived by her
grandparents, James and Marilyn Ballew, of Dumas, and Jerry and
DeAnn Davidson of Dimmitt.
A funeral was to be held Friday afternoon in Pflugerville,
northeast of Austin.
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