A former Olympic handball player, Clark’s death at her Boston , Massachusetts home was confirmed by her family to TMZ. Debbie Clark, who featured as Storm in the 1991 reality fight show American Gladiator, has passed away on Monday, August 24. She was 61.
Clark was suffering from illnesses and had a pacemaker on.
She died after her pacemaker stopped working after she overworked herself, her son Crayton said, confirming that Debbie Clark passed away in his arm.
Debbie Clark’s son Crayton announced that the family, who were at home at the time, called paramedics. In a GoFundMe campaign launched by Crayton, he said she was “struggling with heart problems which she hid from everyone. The paramedics tried to resuscitate Clark before realizing that the 61-year-old was already dead. It is, however, unclear what illnesses that 61-year-old was suffering from.
The report added that Debbie and Crayton shared the same apartment complex so that he could spend time and take care of her.
Though an official cause of the death was not revealed, Crayton said he believed the “American Gladiator” star suffered a cardiac arrest which ultimately took her life. Crayton Clark’s GoFundMe fundraiser seeks money so that he can “spread her (Debbie Clark’s) ashes with her mother so I can finally feel like she’s at rest with the one she loved the most.”
“I don’t know how to do this, but as her only child I’m reaching out to those who loved her for help. I love my mother and want to ensure that she is where she wants to be most. It included a period in the early 2010s when she spent several months homeless.
The GoFundMe has a target of $3,500. As of this writing, it has raised $1360. Actor and comedian Sherri Shephard had come out to Debbie Clark’s help in 2011 by paying six months’ rent for her.
“I’m already struggling because she didn’t leave me with much because she didn’t have much material wise, but she made up for it in love and kindness,” Crayton Clark wrote. Debbie Clark’s financial struggles after “The American Gladiator” ended in 1993 is well documented. Even her bio on the official website of “American Gladiators” notes the “significant challenges” the 61-year-old faced through the course of her life.
