Sherry Pollex, well-known in the NASCAR community for her charitable work and as Martin Truex Jr.’s ex-girlfriend, has passed away. Their ages matched precisely at 44.
Sherry Pollex Cause Of Death
Pollex, who was 35 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer, refused to let the disease define her. Her diagnosis could have left her paralyzed by the sobering reality and terrible statistics behind it. Still, instead, she used it to galvanize the NASCAR community in her charitable efforts to combat cancer that has taken so much from so many.
Pollex, a native of Marshall, Michigan, and a graduate of Florida State University, is currently fighting cancer. Prior to her diagnosis, she founded Catwalk for a Cause in 2010, a charitable fashion event that, according to NASCAR, helped rally the stock car racing industry around the ongoing war against childhood cancer.
More than $4 million has been expanded by the charity since it began to support anti-cancer medical research.
The website for The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation states that after Pollex was diagnosed with ovarian cancer—a devastating form of the disease for which, according to Pollex, there have been few advances in treatment and care over the past three decades—the foundation shifted its focus to “raise awareness, boost advocacy, and generate financial support for underfunded cancer initiatives specific to childhood and ovarian cancers.”
“That’s why I’ve become such an advocate for my disease because it needs awareness and they need people to talk about it — and nobody does,” Pollex told The Athletic in 2022. “If I can help somebody else behind me who is going to be diagnosed, then I need to do that. I need to take the chance to be that person.”
She and her ex-husband, Truex Jr., turned that chance into a career. The logo for 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Champion Martin Truex Jr.’s charitable foundation features a gold ribbon for childhood cancer entwined with a teal ribbon for ovarian cancer, both stripes laid flat to represent the racetracks on which Truex Jr. competes.
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Despite the success of Catwalk for a Cause, Pollex felt that her life’s mission was unfinished. In 2020, she will partner with Novant Health in Charlotte to open the Sherry Strong Medicine Oncology Clinic, and on her 37th birthday, she launched SherryStrong.org.
According to Pollex’s biography for The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation, the initiative aims to educate women about their bodies and the warning signs of ovarian cancer, as well as provide them with information about how “integrative and holistic practices may complement conventional medicine.”
Despite Pollex’s absence from last week’s Catwalk for a Cause, the event’s moderators recognized her monumental contributions to the fight against cancer, calling the health champion “an absolute hero” to the cheers of the crowd.
Pollex was a finalist for the Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award in 2022, and she and Truex Jr. also won the Myers Brother Award from the National Motorsports Press Association in 2017 for their extraordinary contributions to stock car racing.
NASCAR released the following statement to honor her life, which was filled to the brim with an unmatched dedication to selfless service: “NASCAR is saddened to learn of the passing of Sherry Pollex, whose fight against cancer and determination to help others through the Sherry Strong Foundation was an inspiration to all who knew her. NASCAR and the NASCAR Foundation’s thoughts and prayers are with Sherry’s family and friends.”
NASCAR shared the following statement on social media by tweet:
The NASCAR family mourns the loss of Sherry Pollex, who fought tirelessly with her philanthropic efforts to combat cancer.
The NASCAR family mourns the loss of Sherry Pollex, who fought tirelessly with her philanthropic efforts to combat cancer.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 17, 2023
Pollex, a native of Michigan and a die-hard fan of the Detroit Red Wings said that her father, Greg Pollex, who raced Late Models on Michigan dirt tracks before going on to own the championship NASCAR team, PPC Racing, was instrumental in instilling in her a lifelong passion for the sport.
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Despite being given only a 30% chance of survival in the five years following her diagnosis, Pollex gave others fighting the disease a boost of encouragement when she rang a bell at the end of her 17 months of chemotherapy on January 11, 2016, in an electrifying public message.
“I wake up every day and just have so much gratitude and joy for this life that I’m living, even though I have a chronic illness,” Pollex told Jeff Gluck in 2019. “And it’s so hard. People ask me all the time: ‘I don’t get it. How do you stay so positive, and how are you happy all the time when you have Stage 3C ovarian cancer?’ And I wake up every day and think this life is amazing. If you look around you, there’s so much positivity, and there’s so much beauty in this earth. The people who want to make a difference and want to inspire each other — there is a lot of us if you look for us.”
Pollex’s aggressive, hard-to-treat strain of cancer reappeared in September 2021 despite her physicians’ best efforts, and scans revealed that it had spread to one of her lungs.
Pollex, a woman of immense faith and moral fiber, refused to give up in the face of adversity, just as a cancer-fighting ambassador and former North Carolina State University men’s basketball coach Jim Valvano preached. In doing so, she became a legend in the fight against cancer and a source of inspiration for anyone who has ever received a cancer diagnosis.
“I often wonder if that’s my purpose here,” opined Pollex to The Athletic in 2022. “It’s maybe not what I would have chosen for myself — nobody really wants to be the poster child for any cancer — but maybe I’m supposed to go through all this so I can pave the way for other women. On some days, that can be a really hard pill to swallow. But on other days, it’s like, ‘You know, I’ve been given this really important role in this life, and if I’m going to leave a legacy behind and help other people, then I need to do it 100 percent.’”
