NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 11: Devon Still (R) poses with daughter Leah Still backstage at the Rookie USA Presents Kids Rock! - Front Row & Backstage - Fall 2016 New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Skylight at Moynihan Station on February 11, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Zimmerman/WireImage)
Devon Still brought tears to daughter Leah Still’s eyes with a video montage of her journey to being cancer-free. The former NFL player shared the compilation and Leah’s reaction to viewing it on Sunday (March 26). After being given a 50-50 chance of survival, Leah recently celebrated eight years in remission.
Leah was diagnosed with high-risk, stage 4 neuroblastoma at four years old. It’s a rare form of cancer that “accounts for 7 to 10 percent of childhood cancers,” per St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Neuroblastoma develops from nerve cells in the fetus–typically leading to tumors. Treatment ranges from surgery to chemotherapy and radiation.
Leah, who is now 12, experienced all three. Doctors removed a tumor from her abdomen shortly after her June 2014 diagnosis. The surgery reportedly took seven hours. According to TODAY, Still also “underwent 41 days of chemo, 40 days of antibody therapy. 19 days of radiation,” and a stem cell transplant.
Nine months after the diagnosis, on March 25, 2015, Leah’s doctors informed her that no cancer was present in her body. Devon’s video montage shows a younger Leah getting a haircut, dancing, talking to the camera, and speaking about her “tough” journey and praying through it.
By the end of the video, a weeping 12-year-old Leah turned to Devon and asked, “dad, why’d you make it so emotional.”
“Sometimes you have to look back at your life to remember just how far you’ve come. Help me congratulate Leah on 8 years cancer-free,” Devon captioned the montage on Instagram and Twitter.
In 2021, Leah and Devon collaborated with United Therapeutics to launch a neuroblastoma educational initiative. The Braving Neuroblastoma project gives families who’ve received the diagnosis a guide on before, during, and after treatment.
When she was 11, Still spoke about her diagnosis and remission in an interview published on the partnership’s website.
“Now that I’m older, I’m more aware of what I’d gone through as a child and the effects it may have on me as I grow up,” Leah said. “I’m happy to have now graduated into the survivorship program, but I do understand there is always a chance the cancer may come back–I try not to think about it too much and instead enjoy my family and friends.”
Now, Leah only visits the hospital for testing once a year. Before celebrating eight years cancer-free, Leah told Fox News that now she’s trying to find her identity outside of being the kid who had cancer or Devon Still’s daughter.
Over the years, she has played soccer, ran for student council Vice President (and won), and celebrated multiple birthdays. Devon and Leah’s stepmother, Asha, gave her room a Harry Potter-themed makeover in December.
Together, the father-daughter duo, who became household names amid Leah’s diagnosis and recovery, also launched the Still Strong Foundation in 2015.
Though Devon previously expressed fear and trauma in expanding his family, he and Asha welcomed their first daughter, Aria, in 2019 and their second daughter, Amya Jae, in January. So he now has three “beautiful daughters.”
