As he finds new love, Duane (Dog the Bounty Hunter) Chapman took to social media yesterday to share a sweet message about how much he misses his wife and the mother of two of his children, Beth Chapman, on the first Mother’s Day since she passed. Beth died in the summer of 2019 after throat cancer spread into her lungs. She was placed into a medically induced coma and later passed away in a Honolulu hospital. The whole Chapman clan has been really candid with fans about struggling with grief in the months since Beth’s death.
View this post on InstagramRead More “Mother’s Day 2018 !!! Love you miss you Beth,” Dog wrote, alongside of a photo of Beth relaxing in a floating hot tub, with a flower crown adorning her hair. He quickly followed that post with a second, a snap of Beth with daughter-in-law Jamie Chapman, and continued to gush about how much he missed his partner of more than 20 years.RELATED: Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman Reveals He Had Skin Cancer Surgery
Beth’s daughters and step-daughter also took to social media to honor the late reality star. Bonnie Chapman, the couple’s 21-year-old daughter, shared a sweet snap of her parents embracing with a message: “Hope heaven is treating you well.” Cecily Chapman, Beth’s daughter from a previous relationship, whom Dog adopted, re-shared a post her mom put up from Mother’s Day 2019 of a beautiful bouquet Cecily had sent. “No words, just feels today,” Cecily wrote in the caption.
Beth’s Cancer Battle
Beth passed away in June 2019 after a battle with cancer that had spread to her lungs. The “Dog the Bounty Hunter” star was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 2017. She was treated at that time and declared cancer-free shortly thereafter. However, her cancer returned in late 2018 and by the time it was detected, it had metastasized to her lungs.
After the diagnosis, Beth initially began chemotherapy treatments — but her body responded so poorly that the Chapman family matriarch decided to forego additional treatments and focus on quality of life during the time that she had left.
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During an interview with SurvivorNet shortly after her mom’s death, Bonnie Chapman explained that her mom wanted to remain the Beth the world knew and loved for as long as she could — and chemotherapy wouldn’t allow that.
"She completely despised it," Bonnie said of the treatment. "She despised who she was after that one session. And she had tried [the chemo] because so many people had been telling her, 'please, at least try.' And she didn't want to disappoint people by not trying it at all, but at the end of the day, she did not want to lose her hair, her teeth…. She didn't want to feel like she was falling apart.”
Beth’s cancer journey, and the last months of her life, were documented in the family’s most recent bounty hunting series, “Dog’s Most Wanted.”
Dog’s New Romance
While the bounty hunter has made it clear that he will always love his wife Beth, he did disclose in a recent interview that he needed someone to be with him while Beth “is up there partying in heaven.” His prayers were answered when he met his new fiance, a Colorado-rancher named Francie Frane. The TV star said he and Francie found comfort in each other because both had recently lost a spouse to cancer — and they’ve been able to help each other through the pain.
Dog also recently revealed that he had to undergo skin cancer surgery and had to have a spot on his head removed. Francie, he said, was also able to comfort him through his own experience with the disease.
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