While many of us were rooting on our favorite team during Thanksgiving, one family was giving thanks for being cancer free.
“Thanks for all the support and prayers!” read the caption and accompanying image of the words “Thank you,” in cursive from father Devon Still talking about his daughter, Leah’s cancer status. “Just got the phone call that her scans showed NED (no evidence of disease)!” he mentioned ecstatically.
In June 2014, doctors diagnosed Leah with Stage-4 neuroblastoma and gave her only a 50/50 chance to survive.
Months after Leah’s devastating diagnosis, the situation got a little bit more hectic when Devon was cut from the Bengals and he announced intentions to suspend his career to care for his daughter. But then the Bengals executives turned around and assigned him to the practice squad, then reinstated him to the team’s 56-man roster for the remainder of that season to provide better medical coverage. The team even donated profits from the sale of his jersey to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to fight pediatric cancers.
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Devon and Leah have spent the past year and a half not only fighting the disease, but also raising awareness through events and social media (using the hashtags #LeahStrong and #StillStrong). They also raised funds for cancer-related causes, and serve as inspirations to everyone who’s been affected by the deadly disease.
The family still spreads the word about cancer while raising money for their charitable organization, the Still Strong Foundation, that helps others who suffer from cancer.
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