Those that have followed his NFL and personal life know.
Devon Still is a special person
- Thread starter PSUJam
- Start date
In June 2014, his daughter, Leah Sari Still, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage 4 cancer. Still put his football career on hiatus saying: "she's fighting for her life. Sports is not more important than me being there while my daughter is fighting for her life." Since the June 2, 2014 diagnosis, Still spent the next three weeks sleeping next to his daughter at the hospital despite his own recent back surgery. In support of his daughter, Still shaved his head bald and has said that he will grow back his hair only when Leah's does.
The Bengals demonstrated their loyalty even further by permitting Devon Still's jersey to be sold in order to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. $400,000 sales were made in four days. At the end of September, it was reported that Still's jersey donation sales neared $1 million. The New Orleans Saints head coach, Sean Payton bought 100 jerseys and distributed them to the local Boys & Girls Club and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
On September 25, 2014, before driving Leah to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for cancer surgery, Still posted a video to his Instagram account, which went viral. Still later tweeted that the tumor and lymph nodes were removed.
On October 5, 2014, during a game with the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, a music video was shown on the stadium's video screen featuring Still's daughter. The Patriots cheerleaders also donned copies of Still's' jersey to show support. It was further reported that Patriots owner Robert Kraft was donating $25,000 to Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Leah's name.
On March 18, 2015, Still announced that Leah had undergone surgery to get the tumor out, and that she was now cancer-free. On July 15, 2015, at the ESPY awards, Devon and Leah Still received the Jimmy V Award for their determination and perseverance in the face of cancer.
In November 2015, Still announced Leah was in remission with no signs of cancer. In January 2016, Still announced that Leah remained cancer-free and that she had "really beat cancer."
“Never allow your past to define you.” Words to live by.
Right? I thought for sure that you would mention our culture problem here.Except that many of us here are stuck in the past.
This is an awesome story and has inspired me to apply to Princeton as a graduate student despite my very average undergraduate grades.
Great share. It looks like he's now living in Houston.
Thanks for the reminder.
Please take this opportunity to remember that Penn State has a culture problem.
he has come though a lot. as a player he had some bad luck with really crazy injuries - remember he had a broken foot that had some complications. glad to see him get to a good place. I was actually surprised he did not have a more stellar NFL career - I figured him to be a really top DT. He had a nice run though.