Later Life
Golden became a motivational speaker following her skiing career, and also took up rock climbing and mountaineering leading to a successful climb of Mount Rainier. However in 1992, at the age of 29, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, for which she had to be treated with bilateral mastectomies. While operating on her, doctors also found a pre-malignant growth and as a result had to remove her uterus. After this, realising she could never have children, Golden became depressed and in 1993 attempted suicide, something which she would consider again.
Golden recovered and resumed motivational speaking but would give this up for good in 1996 when she was again diagnosed with breast cancer, which was treatable but now incurable. She returned to New England from Colorado and it was here that she once more met Steve Brosnihan, a freelance cartoonist she had known at Dartmouth College. Brosnihan and Golden fell in love and were married in August 1997.
Golden died in August 2001 from the cancer at the age of 38. Following her death Golden would inspire a race series called the "Diana Golden Race Series", hosted by Disabled Sports USA, at mountains which offer programs that teach the physically disabled how to ski. The Diana Golden Opportunities Fund is the endowment that supports and encourages junior athletes with disabilities in their pursuit of excellence in skiing by providing scholarships for purchasing equipment or participating in an adaptive race or development camp.
After her retirement from skiing Golden continued to be honoured by various organisations. In 1991 the Women's Sports Foundation gave her the Flo Hyman Memorial Award, while in 1997 she was inducted into the US National Ski Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. The citation on her entry into the International Hall of Fame read "She persuaded the ski world to treat all athletes the same, regardless of ability or, in her case, disability."
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)