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Leah Still Celebrates Five Cancer-Free Years

Leah Still — the daughter of Penn State football letterman Devon Still and the source of one of sports’ most heartwarming, inspiring stories — celebrated her fifth anniversary of being declared cancer-free on Wednesday.

Devon has shown off how he and his daughter have been celebrating Leah’s milestone on Twitter over the past couple days.

Leah wanted to go celebrate her milestone at a steakhouse, but she and her dad are stuck at home riding out the current coronavirus pandemic. In his own words, Devon “put on [his] chef hat and brought the steakhouse to her” at dinnertime yesterday.

Wednesday was obviously a huge day in the Still household, but Thursday got off to a much lighter start. Devon lit the spark for what may spiral into a lengthy prank war by ~decorating~ his napping daughter’s face.

The dynamic duo also celebrated Leah’s milestone by sharing a “five for five” campaign on Twitter. You can donate $5 to the Still Strong Foundation, which supports other children battling cancer, by clicking here. At the time of publication, the campaign had raised $880 and set a goal of $20,000.

Leah was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer in 2014, and she entered remission on March 25, 2015. Devon officially announced his daughter’s cancer-free status in early 2016, and a then-five-year-old Leah said she wanted to go to Penn State and be a cheerleader on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Still was a defensive tackle for Penn State football from 2009-2011. He totaled 10.5 sacks and 113 tackles in 39 appearances and won the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year award in 2011 before getting his pro career started with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Still played in 30 games for Cincinnati from 2012-2014 before moving to Houston for one season with the Texans in 2016. The most important work Still did during his NFL career, however, was his and the Bengals’ initiatives to raise awareness for and combat pediatric cancer. He announced his retirement from football in 2017.

After wrapping up his NFL career, Still has been very active with his alma mater. He was the headliner at the tenth annual TEDxPSU speaker series last month, and he’s made appearances at other speaker-based events, Penn State football home games and, of course, THON.

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About the Author

Mikey Mandarino

In the most upsetting turn of events, Mikey graduated from Penn State with a digital & print journalism degree in the spring of 2020. He covered Penn State football and served as an editor for Onward State from 2018 until his graduation. Mikey is from Bedminster, New Jersey, so naturally, he spends lots of time yelling about all the best things his home state has to offer. Mikey also loves to play golf, but he sucks at it because golf is really hard. If you, for some reason, feel compelled to see what Mikey has to say on the internet, follow him on Twitter @Mikey_Mandarino. You can also get in touch with Mikey via his big-boy email address: [email protected]

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