Jason Collins, gay NBA trailblazer, dies at 47

Jason Collins has died. The NBA's first out gay player passed at age 47 due to brain cancer, his family revealed Tuesday. "We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma," the family said in a statement through the NBA.

"Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.

" As Out reported in December , Collins wrote an essay for ESPN that he had been diagnosed with one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer, Stage 4 glioblastoma. In that piece, he warned that without treatment, the cancer would spread quickly enough to kill him within six weeks to three months, but that he was "going to fight it. " Over the winter, ESPN reports , Collins traveled to Singapore for experimental treatments that are not authorized in the United States.

Afterward, he was well enough to attend the NBA All-Star Weekend events in Los Angeles and a game at Stanford University, his alma mater. However, his cancer recently returned, reports ESPN, and Collins died peacefully at his home in Florida, surrounded by family. The Associated Press reported that, just last week, Collins was too ill to attend an award ceremony in Cleveland, where he was honored with the inaugural Bill Walton Global Champion Award at the Green Sports Alliance Summit.