Nicole Hazen, wife of Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen, has died, the team announced Thursday. She was 45.
Hazen revealed last year that his wife was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2020.
“Glioblastoma slowly took her capacity to speak, walk, talk and lead but never took her capacity to love her children, family and friends,” the Hazen family said in part in a statement shared by the Diamondbacks on Twitter.
Nicole previously underwent surgery in August 2020, when doctors removed as much of the brain tumor as possible — and then endured a six-week cycle of chemotherapy and radiation.
“Nicole lived her life and loved her family with fierceness and devotion. She spent every day in the service of others as a mother, wife and educator advocating for goodness,” the statement said.
“From our family, we remain forever grateful for the love, support and random acts of kindness bestowed upon us for the last two years and four months. We would not have been able to walk down this road, with her, without the help and generosity of our community.”
Hazen is survived by her husband and four sons: John, Charlie, Teddy and Sam.
“We are lost without her but will carry the torch of her unyielding empathy for everyone forward, from this day onward,” the family concluded.
The Diamondbacks announced in September 2021 that they raised $1.5 million to launch the Nicole Hazen Fund for Hope in support of the physicians and researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute and Ivy Brain Tumor Center in Phoenix, where Nicole had received treatment.
The fund was started with a $250,000 donation from Arizona’s ownership group, and later received a similar donation from the league office and the other 29 teams.