Peyton Manning's 'inspiration' dies of breast cancer

The cancer had already spread through her bones and into her lungs when the gentle giant in the bright orange practice jersey wrapped his arms around her in a hug and told her he'd be praying for her.

Kari Barnett Bollig didn’t know then whether she would live another week or another 10 years.

But it certainly didn’t hurt that Peyton Manning was telling her he would pray for her as he embraced her inside Mile High Stadium in September.

"He's welcoming. He's like a gentle giant," Bollig said at the time. "It was such a personal moment. It was a once in a lifetime thing."

Once in a lifetime for a woman whose lifetime was cut short.

Bollig lived 11 months after that dream-come-true meeting. She got to see her hero, Manning, win his second Super Bowl. The Greenfield native died this week after a five-year battle with breast cancer. She would have turned 46 on Sept. 4.

What Peyton Manning did for my friend, dying of breast cancer

Her Facebook page is filled with notes of heartbreak from friends and family members, from parents of children she cuddled and taught as a speech language pathologist at a child developmental center in Wyoming, where she lived. She had to quit that job, though, because doctors said her bones were so brittle they might not be able to take a tackle from a 3-year-old.

People are calling Bollig an angel on earth. A hero. A woman who battled cancer without ever giving up. A person who made people smile even as they cried for her. When she would come home from a doctor's appointment with more bad news, she always pointed out the good.

In her last health update June 26 on Facebook, Bollig revealed that scans had shown more progression in her bones and that lesions on her lungs had multiplied and grown. Her spine and skull were the worst, though. Because of the skull, she was set for 10 radiation sessions. She was sad because she didn't want to lose her hair again. But then, came the joy she brought.

"On the bright side, doing the radiation now will reduce the impact of the tumors down the road," she posted. "AND we all know I can't afford to be any goofier than I already am!"

People thanked Bollig for helping them get through her cancer.

And somehow, in some way, that spirit of hers touched Manning.

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***

It happened in a letter Bollig wrote Manning, telling him how much she loved him. How he was a light in her sometimes hard to live, cancer-ridden, radiation and chemo-filled life as she watched him play. She told him he was an inspiration.

Manning wrote back.

Then Manning got Bollig to a Broncos game and left her tickets. He hung out with her during the Saturday practice before the game.

She inspired him so much, according to Manning's people, that she stuck out. When Manning retired earlier this year, Gatorade decided to do tribute videos to the football king. They wanted to shoot video of people reading the letters he had written to them. There were all kinds of famous people reading those letters.

Manning’s assistant, Pat Breen, immediately thought of Bollig. Breen wanted to get her in a Manning video.

“I know how much her story meant to PM,” Breen said.

***

Bollig was 40 years old when she found a lump in her left breast. She was diagnosed in April 2011 with stage 2 cancer. She had a lumpectomy, went through chemotherapy and radiation. Everything looked good until 2013, when what she thought was a pulled muscle in her back turned out to be something much worse. Doctors found tumors all over her spine, one touching her spinal cord. Her cancer had metastasized and she was now stage 4.

Bollig spent her last days with family. And with her new puppy, Charlotte Anne, a companion for her other dog, Bristol. Bollig was a dog lover to the core. She was a devoted wife to husband Ed. She was a true friend, nicknamed KareBear because she cared so much for others.

And she was the face of cancer that makes people smile.

"My beautiful, amazing, spirited, thoughtful, talented, one of a kind cousin won her battle with cancer yesterday morning," Dana Sparks Allen wrote in tribute to her cousin. "She won because it can't hurt her any more, and she is hanging out in heaven making it sparkle a little more with her red hair, her smile and her laugh. Kari, you taught us all what it is like to live a life well."

Bollig's survivors include her husband, Edwin L. Bollig of Rock Springs; her parents, Ronnie and Alice Barnett of Greenfield; brother Ty Barnett of New Palestine; two nieces and one nephew.

A memorial service is set for 5:30 p.m. Aug. 19 at Bunning Freight Hall,  603 S. Main St., Rock Springs, Wyo.  Her family requests that memorials be given to Hospice of Sweetwater County, 333 Broadway St. #220, Rock Springs, WY 82901. Condolences for the family can be left at www.foxfh.com.

Follow IndyStar reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.