A retired teacher with terminal ovarian cancer abandoned hospice care on Saturday to join about 10,000 other people in a Women’s March in Washington state.
Mary Tanasse, 87, of Olympia, participated in her wheelchair, pushed by one of her grandsons and surrounded by family, some of whom flew in from California and Michigan to march with her. They carried a banner for her that gave her age and stated, “I will be heard.”
Tanasse told The Olympian that she felt the need to attend the event in her state capital out of a desire for equality for her nine children and 27 grandchildren, as well as generations further down the line.
"I've been waiting 87 years to do this, and I made it," Tanasse told the newspaper. "I'm on hospice, but I still made it."
Tanasse’s granddaughter, Julia Williams, said Tuesday that the march was “unbelievable.”
“I am glad my grandma was able to attend the march and was surrounded by family and friends from across the country,” Williams said. “She has always been an incredible woman and a fighter for what’s right.”
Tanasse’s fighting spirit is apparent on her Facebook page, where she spoke out last month against Trump supporters who chose him as the GOP candidate over others whom she felt might be more qualified.
“Shame on people accepting a person who acts like a fool,” her post reads.
Her family wrote on a GoFundMe page established to fund a women's scholarship in her name that she has always "fought for causes which include women's rights, equal access to education, rights for the differently abled, providing for the poor and affordable health care."
When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer last month, she decided against treatment.
"Instead of prolonging her life with potentially painful treatment, she opted to live the last months of her life fully advocating for the causes she believes in," the fundraising page says.
When her family asked if she was interesting in crowdfunding a scholarship in her name, her response was, “Oh, Lord yes,” the page reads.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the page had raised nearly $800 of the family’s $1,000 goal. All proceeds are to go to either a one-time or recurring needs-based scholarship.
After Tanasse's story got out, she found many more supporters online, male and female alike.
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