Eddie Becker breaks away from the negative NFL headlines to tell the heartwarming story of the Cincinnati Bengals and Devon Still
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Leah Still has probably never heard of Ray Rice. She’s never seen the video of the former Baltimore Ravens running back punching his wife into unconsciousness in a casino elevator. She hasn’t seen the part where he drags her limp body carelessly into the hallway. She hasn’t heard the quotes from the press conference where Rice postures himself well short of being remorseful. No, Leah Still hasn’t had opportunity to ponder any of that. After all, Leah is a four year old girl, and has bigger worries. None bigger than battling cancer.
She is the daughter of Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still. When Leah was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer earlier this summer, the news of him being released from the Bengals in August wasn’t as awful as it could have been. The biggest fight for Devon now wasn’t battling for a spot on the 53 man roster, instead he was battling for the very life of his child.
As a father of two little girls myself, I nearly break down when one scrapes a knee. When one of my beautiful daughters is even remotely sad about something, I ache with sadness too. There isn’t anything in me that can imagine what it’s like to hear the words “your daughter has cancer” from a doctor.
The very next day after Still was released, Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis got with the front office folks and inquired about a way to help Devon who was now without health insurance after being cut by the team. The Bengals decided to do something that they didn’t have to do: they re-signed Devon to the team’s practice squad, thus allowing him to retain full health insurance and help pay the endless bills for Leah’s care.
The team then went a step further by having jerseys made replicating Devon’s #75 jersey and selling them in the stadium and via their website. The jerseys cost $100 and all the proceeds from the sales of the jerseys go to benefit Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and pediatric cancer care and research. As of this past weekend, Darren Rovell reported over 4,000 Still jerseys had been purchased. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton even purchased 100 himself. Devon Still’s jersey is now the best-selling jersey in Bengals history. Incredibly, four days of sales raised nearly $400K for cancer research.
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All of this doesn’t change the scary reality that Leah Still is battling cancer. It doesn’t give reprieve to the fears Devon must have of losing his little girl. What it does show is this: he’s not alone in the fight. Thousands from hardcore fans to complete strangers have helped out, a fact that offers a much needed silver lining to this otherwise wretched NFL season.
Devon Still’s story is tragic, heartwarming, and hopeful all in the same breath. Devon isn’t a star, but he has made his way from the practice squad onto the main roster and even played in Sunday’s game against the Falcons. But unlike many of his peers, Devon’s dream of playing football every Sunday and winning a Super Bowl title are secondary now. He has a determined daughter to stand with in her fight against an evil disease.
Leah Still is only four years old. She doesn’t know about Ray Rice and domestic abuse. She doesn’t know about Adrian Peterson possibly abusing his child. She doesn’t know sleazy stories about Jerry Jones and exotic dancers. Those are things we know about and spend our energy on. Leah spends her days fighting with every breath as her daddy, her best friend, and her hero fights with her. In a season where we seem to only hear about the bad guys, it’s good to know there’s someone to really root for in the NFL.
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(Photo Credit: Associated Press)