Lari White Enters Hospice Care as Cancer Battle Continues
Country singer Lari White's mother has given fans an update on her daughter's battle with cancer, revealing White has been admitted to hospice care.
White revealed her diagnosis of advanced peritoneal cancer in November of 2017 via a post to the ArtistsBlog website. She's experienced "a series of complications including pain management, pneumonia and a bowel obstruction requiring emergency surgery," she writes, adding that her cancer battle has "kept me in and out of the hospital fighting for my life."
Her mother seemed hopeful about a new round of proposed treatments in a post to Caring Bridge on Sunday (Jan. 14), but by Friday (Jan. 19) the news had turned bleak.
"We truly wish the update could be different ... Lari was not able to do her treatment on Tuesday," she writes, adding, "Last night Lari was admitted to a wonderful Hospice facility here in Nashville, where she has all the care she needs to make her comfortable and quiet for this part of the journey, and where she is completely surrounded by loving family ... We have been able to be there for her…to pray, to sing, to read to her, to love on her…and each other. Her sister (an experienced Hospice Chaplain from Seattle) was able to spend the night with her."
Country Singers Who've Been Touched by Cancer
Yvonne White says she and her husband knew their daughter was special from the start, lauding her as "'something else'...wise and funny, intelligent and super-talented…so loving, kind and compassionate…with a heart as big as all of Heaven. I have never known a person who did not love her and respect her, as evidenced by the great outpouring of love and concern of so many people," she writes.
White is best known for a string of hits in the '90s that included "That's My Baby," "Now I Know," and "That's How You Know (When You're in Love)," and she's also appeared on TV and in movies, as well as working as a producer and songwriter. She is married to songwriter Chuck Cannon, and they have three children.
Though White's mother says her heart is "broken tonight for the horrendous illness that attacked our amazing daughter so viciously and quickly," she says she takes comfort in the peace and care that her daughter is receiving in hospice, ending by thanking fans for their support and a request that they continue praying for the singer.
White and Cannon have had to suspend the touring activities that provide their living, and a GoFundMe page has been set up to help with her medical expenses. So far, it's met nearly $70,000 of its $100,000 goal.