Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's governor during Katrina, dies
Source: Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who became the state’s first female elected governor only to see her political career derailed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, has died.
After struggling for years with cancer, Blanco died Sunday in hospice care in Lafayette. She was 76.
“Our hearts are broken, but we are joyful in knowing that she is rejoicing in her heavenly reunion with Christ. Please pray for God’s peace to carry us through the coming days and months of sorrow as we mourn her absence from our lives,” Blanco’s family said in a statement released by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office.
Blanco had a rare eye cancer that she battled successfully in 2011, but it later returned and spread to her liver. Her death came more than a year after the Democrat who served in state government offices for more than two decades announced in December 2017 that she was being treated for the incurable melanoma. Blanco described being in a “fight for my own life, one that will be difficult to win.”
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By MELINDA DESLATTE
4 minutes ago
Read more: https://apnews.com/a8fe77ba5a9d4ae0b900ba702fcb9d58
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My mom died from this, one of the rarest cancers there is.
RIP, Governor Blanco.
You bore more grief and responsibility than most people could imagine, and you did your job admirably. You lived with great courage.
