Heartbreaking. Angela “Big Ang” Raiola thought she was in the clear. Some time before her death of stage IV lung and brain cancer on February 18, the late Mob Wives star got a brief glimmer of hope from her doctors. During the Wednesday, March 2, episode of the hit VH1 show, doctors told Raiola she was in remission, and she pledged to live life to the fullest.
“I’m so happy that I’m cancer-free,” Raiola told the camera. “I am not going to take life for granted anymore, because now I’ve been there. I know.”
Although her doctors warned Big Ang that there was a “small chance the cancers could come back,” the larger-than-life TV personality was adamant on celebrating.
“I’m going to live the fullest every day,” she told the camera. “I’m not gonna be mean, yell at anybody or [be] nasty. I’m going to be very nice.”
As previously reported by Us Weekly, Raiola was diagnosed with throat cancer in March 2015 when doctors discovered a lemon-size tumor. After undergoing two surgeries, she thought she was in the clear. Months later she was diagnosed with stage IV lung and brain cancer. “It’s shocking what happened,” she told Dr. Mehmet Oz days before she passed away. “First I thought I was cancer-free and I was gonna have a big celebration, have a party, and then a month later I [had] stage IV [cancer].”
Big Ang was laid to rest after her funeral on Monday, February 22, at the Basilica of Regina Pacis in her hometown of Brooklyn.
