Leah Still Is Officially Cancer-Free

Cincinnati Bengal’s Devon Still announced yesterday that his daughter Leah Still is officially cancer-free. This comes after last week’s test results, which did not find any active disease in her body. But the defensive lineman was still awaiting MRI and bone biopsy results before fully celebrating.

In the athlete’s tearful caption, he described two specific dates as days he will forever remember. “June 2, 2014 and March 25, 2015 are days I will remember for the rest of my life,” Devon wrote. “As everyone probably knows, June 2nd was the day doctors walked into the waiting room to tell me my daughter had cancer. It was the most devastating day of my life. March 25th , however, is feeling like the best day of my life. Today we received news from Leah’s oncologist that her cancer, stage four neuroblastoma, is officially in REMISSION!”

This is a great end to heartfelt story, which showed good people doing good things for a child in need. Leah’s story shined a light on a father who loves his daughter and a team that stuck behind their player.

After finding out about Leah’s cancer, Devon was distraught and not ready to go back to the game. So the Bengals had to cut him, but quickly signed him to the practice squad so he would get all of their health benefits. On top of this, they sold his jersey in the team’s store and all the proceeds went to the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center Hospital — the team raised about $1.25 million in total.

But most importantly, this is a great day for Leah, who through all the struggles became the face for this horrific disease. She had a 50-50 chance of survival and as Devon stated, “kicked cancer’s butt.” On top of this, she took the role of spokesperson so well for such a young girl, showing that she is certainly mature for her age.

Now, the endeavor is not over. “She still needs more to make sure the cancer cells do not return and to build back up her immune system and other damage from the chemo but I know my little warrior will get through it,” Devon wrote. But the cancer-free news is probably the best thing you will hear all day.