Mick Foley Details His Plan To Help Ashley Massaro's Daughter Following Her Mother's Passing
As previously noted, Mick Foley recently appeared on Lilian Garcia's Chasing Glory Podcast to talk about a variety of subjects. Among them, Foley expound on the current fundraisers he's supporting to help Ashley Massaro's daughter, Alexa Massaro, after her mother's unfortunate suicide by hanging that occurred last month.
"To live in the same town [as the Massaros] is quite a coincidence, but despite that, I think we tend to take people for granted," Foley began. "I saw Ashley but it wasn't until she left us that I realized I never asked her if she ever needed a ride or anything. I always assumed that I would see her again, and so when I heard of her death, it hit me harder than I thought it would have because I wrote in 2007, in my book, Hardcore Diaries, that after Owen Hart's death, that I seemed to lose friends quite regularly, and it tends to become a defense mechanism where you stop reacting. You almost turn off the emotions when it happens, which is kind of what happened to me. It makes me feel less of myself, where I don't feel the way that I used to. And when I heard about Ashley's death, I clicked on the stories and saw a beautiful photo of her. I just cried like a baby and I was really wounded by it because I felt like I could have done more, and I should have done more."
Foley believes it was a matter of fate that he ran in to Lisa Marie Varon, formerly known as Victoria in WWE, and Lilian Garcia shortly after Ashley passed. Together, they brainstormed even more ways to effectively help Alexa get through school.
"This is where – I don't know if things became serendipitous in a way: that is the word a few of us in the inner circles have used. Because had I not been at a convention in Virginia Beach that weekend, just a day or two after, I would not have run into Lisa Marie Varon, and I would not have been able to ask her what was happening [with the fundraisers]," Foley said. "I would have later heard about [Lilian Garcia's] GoFund Me, but at that point, it was just an idea."
Foley is happy that he's is able to influence the headlines to a more hopeful conclusion surrounding this tragic event that took place as they continue raising money for Alexa's education. He looked back on a few of the large donations that he has personally matched during the process.
"There was nothing concrete yet because we didn't even know the wishes of the family," Foley explained. "[Lilian] and I talked about the money being raised that went above and beyond, but it's the idea that people out there care, and so a friend of mine reached out to me and said, 'You know, what you guys are doing is, like, keeping her legacy alive. Because instead of it being a news story for 2-3 days, it has now become a nice story about hope, and love, and the three extra weeks and the 22 days it took us to reach our goals.
"I just didn't want her name to be out there [like that]," Foley continued. "You and I talked about the need for a closing date with two days left, but I just thought, let me see if we can get a match, like, a big donation if I can just visit. We had a couple of people do [big donations] and I said that I would match it. Closing date is July 1st, so people can still donate."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory Podcast w/Lilian Garcia with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.