Billiards Legend Jeanette Lee Says She's Staying Strong amid Cancer: 'I'm Incredibly Stubborn'

Billiards Legend Jeanette Lee Says She's Staying Strong amid Cancer: 'I'm Incredibly Stubborn'

Jeanette Lee, a professional pool player often known by her nickname "The Black Widow," is proving nothing can hold her down — not even cancer.

The 50-year-old announced her terminal diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer in February and recently spoke to Sports Illustrated about her diagnosis and battle, calling herself "incredibly stubborn" and assuring that she's not going to stop fighting.

"In my mind, if I stay positive and active, I can will myself to live a little longer," Lee told the outlet. "If this disease is telling me I'll probably have less time than everyone else, I'd better make the most of it."

As she perseveres, she explained that "the most annoying thing" is handling the many symptoms that come with her chemotherapy, including "chemo brain," which the American Cancer Society defines as a decrease in mental sharpness.

"It's like everything has really been taken from me. I'm just a shell. I'm still walking, but I've already lost what everyone on the planet knows me for: a world champion playing pool," Lee said.

Lee began playing pool in 1989 and has been in the sport professionally for 30 years. She was ranked the world's No. 1 female pool player in the '90s and has come out on top of various competitions over the years, including the 2001 World Games in Akira, Japan.

She also won $25,000 twice by clinching victory in the ESPN Ladies' Tournament of Champions.

Author of The Black Widow's Guide to Killer Pool, Lee was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2013 and, four years prior, became a spokeswoman for the American Poolplayers Association. Billiards Digest consistently counts Lee among their Most Powerful People in pool.

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A single mother to three girls — Savannah, 11, Chloe, 12, and Cheyenne, 17 — Lee said she struggled with telling her kids the first few days after learning of her diagnosis.

"Every time they laughed, I'd think, 'How can I take that away from them?' " Lee told SI. "As soon as I told them [about my cancer], it became very quiet in the household. I kept saying, 'I'm going to fight this.' And they kept going, 'Yes, I know, mommy.' 

But they were crying. They were terrified." They weren't alone. "The fact that there's a chance they could grow up without a mom is just mortifying."

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Throughout her journey, however, Lee said the support she's had from friends, family, and fans has been vital. She told the outlet that having cancer can feel like being "cooped up in a closet, dark and alone," which she described as a "miserable existence."

"If you're not in that closet, you're still suffering but you're talking to people, you're sharing, and they're there for you. And that's gratifying. To think you could feel gratified by something horrible that's happening to you is just a blessing," she explained in the interview.

She added, "If it's my time, it's my time. But I have no fear of what I can control. I'm incredibly stubborn. And my love of my children far exceeds anything I can imagine."

A GoFundMe has been created in Lee's name, and its purpose is to "ensure that [her daughters] are appropriately cared for and can afford to go to college."