The Star: July 11, 2024
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Thursday <strong>July</strong> <strong>11</strong> <strong>2024</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
NEWS 9<br />
Katie passed peacefully away’<br />
Others included: “Katie’s<br />
infectious smile and laughter is<br />
how we will remember her, plus<br />
her amazing horse and handling<br />
skills and passion for hard work!”<br />
“Such a lovely kind and happy<br />
person gone way too soon.”<br />
“A true fighter.”<br />
In an interview with <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
in November, Cox said she had<br />
thought nothing of a cough she<br />
developed in early September.<br />
It was the middle of winter,<br />
one of the bleakest and wettest<br />
Canterbury had had for some<br />
time.<br />
Cox could count the number of<br />
times she had been to a doctor on<br />
one hand. Training and driving<br />
harness racing horses had kept<br />
her fit and healthy.<br />
But the cough stuck around<br />
and by late September, she had<br />
developed chest pains. She<br />
decided to go to the doctor.<br />
“All it was, was a bit of a cough,<br />
bit of a winter cough, you know it<br />
wasn’t that much. I just thought<br />
I’ll go to the doctor and get some<br />
antibiotics,” Cox said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> doctor gave me some<br />
antibiotics and thought it was<br />
most likely a bit of a chest<br />
infection.”<br />
When she returned to the<br />
doctor for a new prescription, her<br />
doctor sent her for a chest x-ray<br />
as a precaution.<br />
Having never smoked or vaped<br />
Cox did not think much of it.<br />
<strong>The</strong> x-ray did show some<br />
blockage in her lung, but again<br />
she was not worried.<br />
“When it showed my lung<br />
was a bit blocked there was a<br />
possibility it could have just been<br />
a bit of grit or something off the<br />
track.<br />
“It wasn’t until they did the CT<br />
scan and biopsy that we knew it<br />
was cancerous.”<br />
It was about a month between<br />
the first doctor’s visit and the<br />
cancer diagnosis.<br />
Cox, who was reluctant to talk<br />
about the day she found out the<br />
diagnosis, was with her mum<br />
Wendy, and partner, when the<br />
doctor delivered the news that<br />
she had lung cancer.<br />
She still did not believe it as she<br />
was being told.<br />
“We thought they must have<br />
had the wrong person,” Cox said.<br />
Further results showed she<br />
had a genetic mutation known as<br />
Exon 20 – which accounts for up<br />
to approximately one in 30 lung<br />
cancers.<br />
Exon 20 mutations are resistant<br />
to drugs used to treat other forms<br />
of lung cancer.<br />
Wendy said her daughter’s<br />
spirit was “willing” to the<br />
end – and she was even giving<br />
directives about her horse Spy Da<br />
Moment’s training “as she was<br />
RISING STAR: Katie Cox after<br />
winning with It’s Tough at<br />
Addington last year.<br />
Above – Cox watched her<br />
horse Spy Da Moment come<br />
second at Addington the<br />
Friday before her death.<br />
PHOTOS: RACE IMAGES,<br />
HRNZ<br />
entering the ambulance”.<br />
“Katie was so appreciative of<br />
the fantastic support from all<br />
who knew her, and supporters<br />
she hadn’t even met,” she<br />
continued.<br />
Since 2012, Cox had 37<br />
training and 108 driving wins<br />
with her biggest moment being<br />
her Group 2 success in 2023<br />
when she trained and drove<br />
It’s Tough to win the Welcome<br />
Stakes at Addington.<br />
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