Watch: When late UFC make-up artist Suzy Friton addressed the rumor that Dana White was not helping with her cancer treatment
Long-time UFC employee Suzy Friton passed away on Thursday, September 9, at the age of 37. She was the lead wardrobe, style, and make-up professional for the promotion since 2006. Friton was suffering from Stage IV metastatic breast cancer and finally succumbed to the disease after a lengthy battle.
The news was first confirmed by UFC color commentator Jon Anik, who posted a long and emotional message on Instagram dedicated to Suzy Friton following her demise.
It is evident from the reactions shared by UFC fighters and others associated with the company that Suzy Friton touched a lot of lives during her tenure with the promotion.
However, a rumor resurfaced that the UFC and Dana White did not extend a helping hand to Suzy Friton during her battle. It first came up when a GoFundMe campaign was set up in July of 2020 by her friend Brittany Churchill, the wife of UFC light heavyweight Misha Cirkunov.
Suzy Friton took to Instagram at the time to thank everyone for their generous support and also to clear the air on whether the UFC was helping her or not. She pointed out that Dana White had been nothing but supportive and she was grateful for all the help she was getting.
"I also want to address, some people are saying that, 'Why isn't the UFC helping? Why isn't Dana [White] or any of the execs helping?' I want you guys to know, they have helped. They have helped every single time that I have been through cancer, even out of their own pockets. The GoFundMe is a way for me that I can stand on my own two feet and I don't have to depend on people just doing that for me. That's not fair. I'm not working and I'm not gonna be able to work for a while," Suzy Friton said in the video.
Suzy Friton also thanked UFC fighters Tony Ferguson, Rose Namajunas, and everyone else who donated and helped her along the way. Other fighters who made generous donations were Jon Jones, Dustin Poirier, Tyron Woodley, Paul Felder, Gilbert Burns, Valentina Shevchenko, and Michael Bisping.
Suzy Friton shared half the proceeds of her GoFundMe with a charity organization
According to Friton's GoFundMe page, she was suffering from an aggressive comeback of cancer after beating it twice. The cancer grew on her spine, liver, and lymph nodes in the chest and also caused two fractures on her spine.
However, despite all her own struggles, Suzy Friton decided to share all the help she was getting with a charity of her choice from her GoFundMe proceeds. She told Marcus Deegan on his podcast earlier this year:
"Half of the proceeds - they wanted all the proceeds to go to me - but I wanted to make sure that while I am going through this, I get to help somebody else, actively really do it any little way I can. So I picked a foundation called The Jellybean Foundation and it is based out of New Jersey."
Watch the video below: