The sister of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, Ayesha Harrison-Jex, died from cancer Thursday at age 40.
Harrison-Jex had been diagnosed with cancer in 2016. She had been an important part of Shaq’s life, TNT’s Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson said in a tribute posted on NBA.com.
“The big fella, who is self-described as the biggest kid in the world, his heart is breaking tonight,” Johnson said. “He said his world revolves around his brother and two sisters.”
Harrison-Jex, an Orlando native, will be buried in a military cemetery next to her father, sergeant Philip A. Harrison. O’Neal did not know his biological father, and Philip Harrison filled the void.
Harrison married O’Neal’s mother, Lucille, when O’Neal was 2. The New York Times described Harrison as “a direct, passionate, vociferous defender of his son’s rights and protector of his back.”
Harrison saw O’Neal’s first dunk, the Orlando Sentinel reported in a 1994 profile of O’Neal.
“He’s the one who raised me and made me what I am today,” O’Neal told the Sentinel.
O’Neal, the oldest sibling, watched over Harrison-Jex as she grew up.
“...He was either taking care of us or entertaining us,” she wrote in Shaq Talks Back, a biography on O’Neal, as reported by Heavy.com. “Shaquille taught us how to play basketball,” she wrote. “He taught us how to swim. All four of us used to just hang together.”
“Shaquille knows his family has his back,” she added.
O’Neal won his fourth championship with the Miami Heat in 2006 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Harrison-Jex seems to have passed on the great basketball genes in her family. Earlier this year, she posted on Twitter that her son, Bryce Harrison, was awarded the Seminole County Middle School player of the year.
“#proudmom High School here he comes,” Harrison-Jex wrote in the post.
Harrison-Jex received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida A&M University.
Harrison-Jex was first diagnosed with cancer at age 23 while a college student, Christian Broadcasting Network reported.
In May, Harrison-Jex walked the runway as part of a “Celebration of Life Fashion Show” according to photos on Facebook.
“Love u mama......” her son Bryce wrote on Twitter after her passing.
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October 25, 2019 at 03:38PM
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Shaq’s sister dies from cancer. Basketball world mourns loss of the Orlando native. - Miami Herald
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