In sports just like it is in everyday life, sometimes the way people respond saddest circumstances is what ultimately reaffirms your faith in life. Such has been the case all year with athletes like the Devon Still and college basketball player Lauren Hill.
Still is a defensive player for the Cincinnati Bengals. His young daughter Leah has been battling stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare and pernicious form of pediatric cancer. The Bengals were rightly praised this summer for allowing Still to remain on the team's practice squad in order to be able to keep paying for Leah's health coverage, as well as set up a fundraising initiative in which all proceeds from Still's jersey sales went towards the city's Children's Hospital and pediatric cancer care and research.
Still has since been promoted from the practice squad to the team's active roster.
Lauren Hill, meanwhile, is a freshman forward for the Division III Mt. St. Joseph's women's basketball team. Hill is terminally ill, having been given a diagnosis of just months to live due to an inoperable brain tumor. That didn't stop her from taking the court and scoring two baskets in her college basketball debut this month, fulfilling a dream most didn't think possible.
The classy and graceful way Hill and Still have responded to mind-boggling adversity speaks to their strength and courage as individuals. And, on Thursday afternoon, these two inspiring figures met in person for the first time, exchanging pleasantries -- and jerseys!
Just was surprised after practice by a really good friend, Lauren Hill, and she brought he... https://t.co/7BEtykDM35 pic.twitter.com/didaVQXIPW
— Devon Still (@Dev_Still71) November 20, 2014
#LaurenHill and @Dev_Still71 exchange jerseys. #LaurenAndLeahStrong #LeahStrong #StillStrong #Layup4Lauren pic.twitter.com/dUsuAcg6Qu — Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) November 20, 2014
You can watch further footage of Devon Still and Lauren Hill's inspirational journeys below:
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