In 2007, Mahy adopted a cavoodle puppy she named Honey, because of her colour.[17] Mahy died at the Nurse Maude Hospice in St Albans, Christchurch on 23 July 2012, aged 76.[7][13][14][18][19][20][21] She had been diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous jaw tumour in April 2012 and had been moved to a hospice about nine days before her death.[20]