Smith’s mom dies after long illness
Lee Smith, the mother of veteran Astros reliever Joe Smith, died Thursday following an eight-year battle with Huntington’s disease.
Huntington’s disease is an inherited neurodegenerative condition with no cure. Joe Smith has described the disease as a mix between Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Smith and his wife, TNT broadcaster Allie LaForce, have been advocates for funding and awareness since Smith’s arrival in Houston.
The two founded the HelpCureHD Foundation to provide financial and emotional support to Huntington’s patients. The couple also publicly shared their journey to eliminate the disease from their family line with preimplantation genetic diagnosis during in-vitro fertilization.
Smith, 36, has a 50 percent chance of inheriting Huntington’s disease from his mother, but he has opted not to get tested.
LaForce announced Lee Smith’s death in an Instagram post on Thursday night.
“After a long fought battle with Huntington’s disease, she is finally free,” LaForce wrote. “You deserve to be smiling from above with no pain, no struggle, just the greatest happiness and peace in the world.”
According to the Astros, Joe Smith did not report to Minute Maid Park for summer camp workouts in July “out of concerns for the health and safety of his family.” The team placed him on the restricted list later that month, but he has not informed them whether he intends to opt out of the 2020 season.
“He’s welcome to come back,” manager Dusty Baker said in July, “but right now we’re planning to go on without Joe. He’s a big part of this club. The guys miss Joe. But we know every man has to do what they have to do.”
The Astros acquired Pruitt from the Tampa Bay Rays this winter in hopes he could slot into their starting rotation. Pruitt is not arbitration-eligible until the 2022 season, meaning the Astros could bring him back in 2021 for near the league minimum
— if he’s even healthy enough to contribute.