Four-time Iditarod Trail race winner Susan Butcher is dead in Seattle on Saturday 5 August 2006, of leukaemia, at age 51. She had fought the disease for the last year and a half. The news left the Alaska dog driving community thunderstruck, as it had been generally assumed that Butcher would beat the disease, particularly since at one stage last May her condition was hopeful and her leukaemia in remission. She is survived by her husband David Monson and two daughters, Tekla, age 10 and Chisana, age 5.
The full story is available from the website of the Anchorage Daily News:
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/butcher/story/8045354p-7938337c.html