Barb Tarbox
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| Barb Tarbox | |
| Born | April 10, 1961 Edmonton, Alberta |
|---|---|
| Died | May 18, 2003 (aged 42) Edmonton, Alberta |
Barb Tarbox (April 10, 1961 – May 18, 2003) was one of the most well-known anti-smoking activists in Canada; a life-long smoker dying of brain and lung cancers whose very open and frank discussions of her illness, its cause and its consequences, propelled her to the Canadian national stage. During the last months of Tarbox's life she went around Canada teaching young adults the consequences of smoking. Perhaps most memorably, she emphasized how she was unable to quit smoking even after she found out that she had cancer.
Barb Tarbox was compared by the Mayor of Edmonton to Terry Fox, another great Canadian.
Tarbox died at a hospital in Edmonton on May 18, 2003 at the age of 42 from brain cancer and lung cancer.
On December 5, 2003, Barb Tarbox was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada by Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, for devotion to the anti-smoking cause. The decoration was accepted in Ottawa by her daughter, Mackenzie. In March of 2006 she was nominated for the Ironic Name Award.
"Barb's Miracle", a book by Greg Southam and David Staples, captures Barb's incredible journey, the amazing impact she had on all those she touched, and the agony she suffered as a result of her decision to smoke.
