Norma Greer, with daughter Tawny, campaigned for array of health, social causes.

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She only had 18 months left to live after learning she must fight one of the most aggressive, deadly and misunderstood forms of breast cancer, known as inflammatory breast cancer.

But Tucsonan Norma Greer spent almost all of her remaining moments trying to warn women to be on guard against this "silent killer" — the rare cancer that finally took her life early Tuesday morning, at age 62.

Though she willingly sacrificed her own privacy and comfort to take on this mission on behalf of women everywhere, this was only the last campaign in a long line of passionate efforts Greer — a devoted mother of two daughters — undertook to improve human lives in any way she could.

"The history of Norma's concern and commitment to health and social justice issues goes back many years," said Jacqueline Sharkey, head of the University of Arizona journalism department, who worked with Greer on several grass-roots campaigns in the 1990s. The results included improved health care for state employees and saving the threatened Poison Control Center at the UA during a state budget crunch.

"I have always felt that every person, every child, who was rescued by calling that poison center owes their life to Norma," Sharkey said.

"She waged a long line of important and very successful efforts to ensure Southern Arizonans had longer and better lives."

Born in Wyoming, Greer attended San Francisco State University before marrying William F. Greer, a UA associate professor of journalism. After moving to Tucson in 1980 and raising her daughters, she returned to school to complete her education, earning a degree in journalism, while also studying criminal justice, at the UA in 2000.

Shortly afterward, she began working with juvenile offenders at the Tucson non-profit Open Inn, and also volunteered with the county's Victim Witness Program. In 2004, she joined the Pima County Juvenile Justice Court as a juvenile probation officer — a post she held until her diagnosis with inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, in the summer of 2006.

With that ultimately fatal diagnosis, Greer endured a terrifying ordeal that set her on the path to help other women avoid a similar fate.

Because IBC shows none of the symptoms of classic breast cancer, it often is misdiagnosed and goes untreated by doctors. That is exactly what happened to Greer, after six Tucson physicians kept insisting she had only a nasty infection, as the cancer tore through her breast and body. The delayed diagnosis meant she finally began treatment at a later stage of the rapidly spreading cancer.

While struggling through surgery, also heavy-dose chemotherapy and radiation, Greer plunged into her final campaign, pleading with news outlets throughout Arizona to use her to warn women about this little known but exceedingly dangerous cancer.

"I have heard far too many stories like mine," she said in an October interview with the Arizona Daily Star. "This is hard to diagnose, but if people know it exists, there is a chance to get a speedy diagnosis and begin treatment. Knowing the symptoms can save lives."

Once again, her extraordinary effort succeeded. Her story circulated throughout the country, then across the ocean, getting response within Great Britain and other spots in Europe, her daughters said.

"I have heard so many comments on Norma's message, from women who said, 'Thank goodness she did that. I knew nothing about this cancer,' " said Toni Hellon, a former state legislator and longtime friend of Greer's who worked with her to save the Poison Center and used Greer's skills during her political campaigns.

"Norma had an extraordinary talent as a researcher — she knew where to go to find things out, to get information. She was so effective. She would focus herself on an issue, and she would not rest until she saw it through.

"We often lose sight of the Norma Greers of the world, who make a huge difference just getting things done but are never in the spotlight, because the spotlight is not why she did it.

"I will miss her greatly. She was very brave. That's all I can tell you. She was one of my heroes."

Although well aware of deadly threat of IBC, it was nevertheless a tremendous shock when a headache Greer suffered around Thanksgiving signaled the return of the cancer, spreading fast to her brain and spinal cord. By mid-January, she was essentially paralyzed.

During her last weeks, her family and many friends — including her beloved mutts Sammy and Bijou — kept vigil at her bedside, with many writing tributes in a guest book. They remembered especially her great good humor, her big heart and high intelligence, her skills as a gourmet cook, her gift for inspiration and, perhaps most of all, her excellence as a mother.

"What a good mom. ... If I could be only half the mom she was," said her daughter Tawny Greer, 32. "How she tucked me in every night when I was little. How she loved me when I was hurting. There will be no other unconditional love like hers for me. What I learned from her is compassion and kindness. And always, always, her good humor, even up to the very end.

"The very last thing she said to me, through all of her pain, was, 'I love you with all my heartbeat.' It was something we said to each other all our lives."

In breaking the news of their mother's death to her friends, daughter Brooke, 30, wrote:

"Tawny and I could write for hours about how truly blessed and lucky we both are to have Mom as our mother. We definitely got one of the good ones. ...

"Everyone here knows her gentle heart, feisty spirit, clever/hilarious humor, her super intelligence and tough cookie-ness. ... Mom, we love you with all of our heartbeat also."

Greer is survived by her two daughters, Tawny, of San Francisco and Brooke, of San Diego; and her brother, Gary Bredthauer, of Columbia, Md.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation at www.ibcresearch.org or by mail to IBC Research Foundation, 321 High School Road NE STE D3, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.

Services will be private.