A big milestone has arrived in the simultaneously heartwrenching and heartwarming story about Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still and his daughter Leah, who is battling a form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma.
Earlier Thursday morning, Still posted a video showing his "pre-surgery pep talk" for Leah with the caption, "I might be nervous and scared beyond words but I'll never let her see it...let's get this done!"
Still has had the support of the Bengals organization throughout the ordeal. Earlier this month, we learned that the team had signed Still to its practice squad after releasing him, allowing him to maintain health insurance for the expensive treatments Leah would require.
Then the Bengals began to sell Devon Still jerseys (No. 75) in mid-Sept. with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting pediatric cancer research, a campaign that produced $400,000 worth of funds in only four days. Later, the team re-signed Still to its active roster.
Still previously told ESPN that he would learn on Sept. 16 whether the tumor had reduced enough in size for doctors to attempt to remove it on Sept. 25, after which she would have to endure another round of chemotherapy and radiation and eventually a stem cell harvesting.
It took a nearly six-hour surgical procedure, but by late Thursday afternoon, Devon Still and his family received one piece of news they had been desperately waiting to hear for months.
The tumor was gone.
On a photo Still posted to his Instagram account late in the day, the lineman reported the cancerous tumor that had sickened his 4-year-old daughter, Leah, had been completely removed by a surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The surgeon even was able to clear the area in Leah's right adrenal gland, Still said. According to Still that was the area "where it all started from."
