Jamie Cavey-Lang

My friend Jamie passed away on December 21 from cancer. I first met Jamie my freshman year (her junior year) of college through mutual friends. I am a huge Iowa women’s basketball fan and Jamie is to credit for that. We loved watching her play in college and endearingly referred to her as “TB” or “Tall Bitch!”



This post is not necessarily about my travels, but Jamie’s passing was on the first leg of my new journey. I spent hours trying to figure out how to make it back to Iowa for her funeral, but in the end, navigating flights, rental cars, and the lack of funeral clothes proved to be too much so I was unable to make it - and that was ok. While this new journey for me allows for a lot of flexibility, it was an early lesson that not everything will be possible.


Jamie was a member of Lisa Bluder's first recruiting class at Iowa and said this in an article by the Gazette, “We had just gotten here, and we needed bodies. Jamie was a tall post presence, and she lived near Iowa City. We thought she had a chance to be good. She was gifted, but she wasn’t skilled yet. She was going to go to Illinois State. Obviously, she had a very good career here. Jamie was a character, the life of the party. She loved to have fun.”



She did love to have fun and we had a lot of it! I grew closer with Jamie after she graduated when I had started hanging out with her younger sister Kelsie throughout the rest of college. I got to know the rest of her family over the years and one thing the Cavey’s did was make you feel like family.


Kelsie’s wedding was in November 2024 and had her bachelorette party in September. It was my first bachelorette party, but we did it right in Iowa City like old times! Jamie was there for the bachelorette party and said she was doing “ok” with her cancer at the time. When we saw her at the wedding in November it was clear that was no longer the case. There were a lot of tears that weekend, but the love throughout the weekend was incredible. We didn’t know how quickly things would progress after that, but it seemed like Jamie really hung on to be at the wedding and for that, I think everyone is grateful.


Jamie passed away on Saturday, December 21. It breaks my heart for her family and her young children. Jamie was a great mom and would have been a fun mom to grow up with. Her husband Mike and her kids have a great support system that will always be there for them. I will miss Jamie’s voice on the radio for Hawkeye games. If I was in the car and listening to games on the radio, I would always send Jamie a funny message and she’d give me a shout out. She was an amazing Hawkeye and human! 




The amount of love shared by friends, family, and the University of Iowa after Jamie’s passing was incredible. I’m so happy she was able to witness the two national championship appearances and her radio call of Iowa’s incredible victory over South Carolina in the Final Four in 2023 will forever be in our hearts.


We’ll miss you and will never forget you, TB!
Location: Iowa City, IA, USA

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