When all of this first happened, one had to be impressed with both of these people. It was a great love story, and a great battle, against all odds. I have my own mental list of TRUE Professional Athletes, those who play their game with devotion, and also they must live their private lives the same way. It is a small list. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, John Havlichek, Bobby Orr and a few others. I put Chris in that list some time ago. He had his priorities in good order. They did much for cancer awareness, Marilyn and I have lived through her bout with breast cancer.
There were many nice tributes on Saturday, one at Michigan Stadium, the OSU team wore SS on their helmets, and a moment today at the Lions game in Detroit, and probably some others around the league. Some really good people go way to early. I never met Stef, but have always held great admiration for her and her husband.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Stefanie Spielman, whose public battle against breast cancer gripped central Ohio for more than a decade, died Thursday. She was 42.
Spielman and her husband, Chris, tirelessly raised breast cancer awareness and helped form Stefanie's Champions, raising millions of dollars for Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital.
In 1998, at 31, a biopsy confirmed her fears, that she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the couple began their battle.
Without hesitation, Chris Spielman put his career on hold with the NFL's Buffalo Bills to be at his wife's side.
"For me, to leave (Stefanie) in Columbus and go play football in Buffalo would be against everything I stood for," Chris Spielman said.
"It meant the world to me," Stefanie Spielman said. "That's been the hardest part -- seeing him give up what he loves -- the best, for me."
The Spielmans said that they had two options when they learned about the cancer. The first was to quit. The second was to come out and fight the disease.
The couple fought with determination and a deep love.
Even talk show host Oprah Winfrey was moved by their story.
"You are about to hear an extraordinary story of love and devotion," Winfrey said at the start of her show. "What a man. What a woman."
