For former NFL player Devon Still, there was a time when football felt small compared to the reality waiting at home. His daughter Leah was just four years old when doctors delivered the words no parent is prepared to hear: stage-4 cancer. The prognosis was uncertain, the odds painfully clear — a 50-50 chance to survive. From that moment on, Devon’s life stopped being measured in seasons or games and became defined by days, scans, and hope held together by faith.
The years that followed were filled with hospital rooms, treatments, and waiting. Leah endured chemotherapy, needles, procedures, and exhaustion far beyond her age. For her family, life became a cycle of appointments and recovery days, celebrating small victories while bracing for setbacks. Devon has spoken openly about how helpless it felt to watch his child fight a battle he couldn’t fight for her. Every smile mattered. Every stable result felt like borrowed time.
Today, Leah is nine years old — and she has reached a milestone her family once only dared to imagine: five years cancer-free. In the world of childhood cancer, that mark carries enormous weight. It doesn’t erase what came before, but it brings a level of relief parents often wait years to feel. For Devon, it represents something deeper than medical statistics. It means waking up without immediate fear. It means letting his daughter simply be a child.
Leah’s life now looks refreshingly ordinary. She enjoys cake and ice cream without restrictions. Movie nights replace hospital stays. Her days are filled with laughter instead of IV poles, and school memories instead of waiting rooms. The simple joys — once unimaginable — have become everyday blessings. For a family that once lived moment to moment, that normalcy is everything.
Rather than keeping the milestone private, Devon and his wife chose to turn gratitude into action. Together, they run the Still Strong Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting families whose children are currently battling cancer. They understand firsthand how devastating the financial and emotional toll can be. Medical bills pile up. Jobs are lost or paused. Parents are stretched thin, trying to stay strong for their children while quietly falling apart themselves.
To honor Leah’s five-year milestone, the family launched a campaign encouraging people to donate even small amounts to help other families stay afloat. The goal isn’t grand gestures — it’s practical support. Gas money. Rent help. Meals. The things families often struggle to afford while sitting beside hospital beds. Devon has been clear that while Leah’s fight has ended, countless families are still deep in theirs, waiting for the same moment of relief.
What makes Devon Still’s story powerful isn’t fame or football — it’s perspective. He knows what it’s like to live without certainty, to celebrate survival instead of trophies. He knows that hope doesn’t arrive all at once; it’s built slowly, appointment by appointment, prayer by prayer. Through the foundation, he hopes to shorten the distance between fear and hope for other parents who are still counting days.
Leah, now old enough to understand her journey, has a simple message for families still fighting childhood cancer: “You’re not alone. Be strong.” It’s a message shaped by experience, not slogans. Her five years cancer-free aren’t just a victory for one family — they’re a reminder that survival is possible, support matters, and even in the hardest seasons, hope can still grow.