The Chicana Lesbian activist Jeanne Córdova, whom Google Doodle honored on June 6, was fighting Cancer, which led to a major weight loss in her last days, all while advocating for LGBTQ rights.
She was suffering from Metastatic Brain Cancer, which eventually took her life on Jan 10, 2016.
Here, Metastatic Brain Cancer is a Cancer that originates somewhere else in the body and spreads to the brain, causing brain tumors.
Today's #GoogleDoodle honors Jeanne Córdova, a Chicana lesbian activist who fought for the LGBTQ+ rights movement and championed feminism → https://t.co/eSkNxJW1pK pic.twitter.com/ZuzwVW8Nu9
— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) June 6, 2024
As a treatment, Jeanne Córdova had to undergo multiple operations, radiation, and chemo, which explains her weight loss as it is one of the major side effects of chemotherapy.
Jeanne Córdova wrote in her last letter that she had been battling Cancer since 2008!
On September 8, 2015, Jeanne Córdova wrote a letter about dying, addressing her lesbian communities.
There, she confirmed that she had Metastatic Brain Cancer, which began as Colon Cancer. She knew she had it since 2008 and says she endured it all to continue her activism.
However, the Cancer resurfaced again in 2013, and this time, it had metastasized to her lungs and, ultimately, her cerebellum.
After that, Jeanne Córdova said her health had been going downhill, suffering from side effects of multiple radiations and chemo.
Celebrating Jeanne Córdova, the beloved #butch activist and Chicanx trailblazer who pioneered lesbian activism and the inclusion of trans femmes into lesbian feminism.
— California Endowment (@CalEndow) June 14, 2023
"Being butch is my hallelujah."#Pride #Pride2023 #Lesbian pic.twitter.com/OUS9BUdB6p
The long battle with Cancer had made her so feeble that she needed support to even stand on her feet.
Jeanne Córdova had lost weight, and she would feel a tingling and numb sensation in her fingers and hands when she fell asleep.
Reading the letter, it seems that Córdova was ready to embrace her demise and share her last journey.
She had mentioned in the letter it’s now either chemo forever, off and on, or dying. It seems she chose a peaceful ending as she passed away on January 10, 2016, at her home surrounded by her longtime partner, Lynn Ballen, and her closest friends.
Additional Information
- The LGBTQ+ rights movement mogul Jeanne Córdova was born on July 18, 1948, in Bremerhaven, Germany.
- She established the first lesbian center in Los Angeles in 1971 and later founded The Lesbian Tide, a lesbian periodical newspaper.
- Córdova authored her memoir book, ‘When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love and Revolution.’
