Kelly Jo Dowd, mom of 14-year-old golf sensation Dakoda Dowd, died of breast cancer in her Palm Harbor, Fla. home Thursday night. She was 42.

Dowd spent years battling the disease that had spread to her bones, liver, and brain. She also spent years waiting to see her young daughter play in an LPGA event. Her wish came true last spring.

"I'm prouder today than I was yesterday that my daughter has the courage and strength to play with these LPGA professionals," Dowd said after the Ginn Clubs & Resorts LPGA tournament. "And I feel great right now. I feel great. My dream came true out here."

To honor and support former 1995 Hooters Calendar Cover Girl, Kelly Jo Dowd, who is battling a recurrence of breast cancer that has spread to her organs and bones -- during the 10th Annual Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant in Las Vegas, Hooters gave her a check for $135,000 and announced a $1 million dollar breast cancer research grant in her name through the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Dowd, who is 40, successfully went into remission the first time she was diagnosed with breast cancer, only to have the cancer return, is the only woman to climb Hooters restaurant chain's corporate ladder from waitress, to manager, and to general manager. She is also the proud mother of golfing teen phenom Dakoda Dowd.

The V Foundation was launched during the last year of NC State basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster Jim Valvano's life, when he was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma, and told he had a year to live. He spent the last year as an advocate in raising cancer awareness by sharing his personal experience as someone facing life and death with cancer. Valvano's message in the fight against cancer was "Don't Give Up ... Don't Ever Give Up!"

Dowd is fighting for her life, and Hooters has stepped in to help her, and other women facing breast cancer and fighting for their lives, in never giving up in the battle.

The 2006 ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic, held at Lost Canyons Golf Club in Simi Valley, California, in a benefit to raise money for The V Foundation cancer research grants, raised $1.1 million dollars this year.

George Bodenheimer, Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks and President, ESPN and ABC Sports announced this record-setting fundraising total at the event attended by celebrities such as National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Julius Dr. J Erving; National Football League Hall of Famer and ESPN commentator Joe Theismann; actor Haley Joel Osmont; 13-year-old golfing phenom Dakoda Dowd; Olympic skier Bode Miller; Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil; and Hercules TV-series star Kevin Sorbo.

The V Foundation was founded by the late NC State basketball coach ESPN broadcaster Jim Valvano and brother Nick Valvano, with a goal to fund cancer research. In the last five years, the foundation has raised over $50 million dollars -- money that has gone to fund cancer research grants nationwide. The V Foundation is involved in advocacy, education, fundraising and philanthropy.

You can watch the ESPY Golf Classic, which will be featured on ESPN Classic, August 13 at 11:00 a.m. ET.