Venus Trapped in Mars Sports and Lifestyle Blog Dallas

11 September 2014

This Story Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity, NFL

In all of the uproar and negative press surrounding the NFL right now, there is a truly heartwarming story that you just have to hear. Many of my die hard sports girls probably have heard this story already, but for those that haven't, here we go...

*Warning* This story will give you goosebumps and/or make you ugly cry.

::Meet Devon Still::





Devon Still is a 2012 second round draft pick for the Cincinnati Bengals. On June 2nd, he found out his 4 year old baby girl Leah was diagnosed with Pediatric Cancer. Leah has been given a 50/50 chance of surviving, and her medical bills could reach $1 million. 

In a football move, the Bengals unfortunately had to cut Still from the 53 man roster.  But in a non-football move, they made the heart-warming decision to keep Still on the practice squad so he could keep his family's insurance and continue to get paid. 

But the Bengals didn't stop there. After spending just one week on the practice squad, the Bengals moved Still back to the 53-man roster and made a very touching, moving announcement to sell Devon Still jerseys, and donate the proceeds to Pediatric Cancer Care and Research. 



Still's jersey sales, in the past 24 hours, are more than any other in Bengals history. 

And are you ready for this, guess who bought 100 of them?

The New Orleans Saints. If that doesn't just heave at your heartstrings this Thursday morning, I don't know what will. Bravo, Saints. Bravo, Bengals. You just earned one new fan over here in Texas. If you want to help pledge to "Sack" pediatric cancer, go here. And go Bengals. And go Leah. 


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56 comments :

  1. Awesome. That is beyond adorable. I don't care much for sports, but I do believe in the hearts of people (even football fanatics, hehe).

    Cat
    http://oddlylovely.com

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  2. Classy, classy move. They're not all bad!

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  3. This is amazing- I have goose bumps. What nice news on a day like today too :( :)

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  4. Yup. I just ugly cried at my desk. This is truly inspiring.

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  5. thanks for sharing..too often we hear all the bad things and never good things. definitely heart warming!

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  6. Love this! It's just proof that even if the negative is being publicized more, there is always still good and positive stuff going on too. :)

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  7. So beautiful. C'mon Saints, you're making it hard for me to dislike you right now! lol. Thanks for this piece of good news Sarah :)

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  8. OH GOSH, I'd heard that the Bengals kept him for that reason but I didn't know about the jerseys, nor did I know that the Saints bought so many! Omg, I have the most intense goosebumps right now. That is amazing.

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  9. Yeah, this is amazing! It makes me so happy that sports can bring out the best in people, even today.

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  10. What an inspiring story, I saw the tweet about the jersey but I had not had time to check out the details. Thanks

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  11. That is seriously so amazing that the Saints did that! I posted this story to my Facbook page the other day because I was tired of all the Ray Rice stuff and wanted people to see the good that is also going on in the NFL. I am a huge NYG fan (even though they are not looking so hot already this year), but I have decided that I will be cheering for the Bengals as well and may even be purchasing a jersey just to support Still and the Bengals for the amazing thing that they are doing. They definitely restored my faith in humanity a bit!

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  12. love, love LOVE this!!! I actually didn't hear anything about this!! Seriously, amazing! And yes, I had an ugly cry. haha

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  13. What an awesome story. I may have to be a Bengals fan after all.

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  14. I had heard about this, but I didn't know the Saints made as big a contribution as they did. Seriously classy move by all the organizations involved. Thanks for sharing!

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  15. I had tears listening to this story this weekend and here I am crying again reading about it here. What a class move for both, the Bengals and Saints.

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  16. What an awesome story! I heard a little about this, but not all of it. And the Saints buying the jerseys, too? That's just too much awesome for one story.

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  17. I love this so much. Makes me unbelievably proud to call myself a Bengals fan.

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  18. And I'm crying. this really does make me so happy.

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  19. Love love love this story!! Especially on this day. :)

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  20. That's incredible! My cousin survived stage 4 pediatric cancer (although he lost a kidney in the process) and this tugs on my heartstrings in a very personal way because of that. I'm so glad to hear that the NFL does this like this (especially more than just one team).

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  21. Its such a great story! Especially with all the other ugly stuff going on! The Bengals are a stand up organization, by far! I still bleed Red & Gold, but I can appreciate and support a great organization. Also, hats off to the Saints, that was a pretty cool gesture!

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  22. Love this story so much, it is so wonderful to see some positive stuff coming out of the NFL right now, and this story had me crying like an ESPN e60 segment.

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  23. Omg. Totally got chills. Thanks for sharing!

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  24. I heard this story this morning, and yes I did get chills! So beautiful, It's amazing how much power we have to help people when we come together!

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  25. LOVE this story! It's so good to know there's still some good in all of the NFL talk right now. Now let's just get Goodell out and keep the positive vibes coming.

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  26. YES. I love this. Makes me so happy to be a Saints fan. And the Bengals are my second go-to team, they have the best helmets.

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  27. Wow. That is a BEAUTIFUL story. Thank you for sharing it!

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  28. That's awesome!

    Still wish they'd get their shit together with some of their other players though... Sorry, it had to be said.

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  29. Finally some good news for the NFL! And I applaud the Saints!

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  30. I hadn't heard that the Saints bought 100 jerseys. So touching. We need more of these feel-good stories during a time when there are so many ugly things going on.

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  31. WHODEY :) Proud to be a part of this organization!

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  32. Cue the goosebumps! I'm already overly emotional today...thank you mother nature...and between reading all the 9/11 stories and now this, I'm a mess. I had read about them keeping him on the practice squad but hadn't heard about the jersey thing yet. I hate the Saints but wow. That's pretty awesome.

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  33. My heart is full now that I saw that! LOVE this!!!
    I have a heartwarming story coming tomorrow on my blog, also from the NFL.

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  34. That makes me proud to be a Saints fan! Thanks for sharing this story as well! Can I repost on my own blog giving you credit?

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  35. Because of TCU Alum and Cinci QB, Andy Dalton, I'd heard about the Still family situation, but not about the jersey. Serious goosebumps. Definitely going to look into one of those. The Bengals are a class act of a team. And the Saints? Oh man, that hits you right in the feels.

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  36. I heard this on the radio this morning and I cried then, and yet again, I'm crying now. Sports stories just tear at my heart strings. I cry like a big ole baby.

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  37. My pregnant self can't handle all this. Poor baby and yay for so many great heartwarming stories. Last week I cried through an entire soccer game, because LA Galaxy's AJ De La Garza lost his son just a week after being born. The Galaxy really stepped it up and did so much for him though.

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  38. Shivers!!! I love when I hear heartfelt stories emerging from the sports world - I think there's just something about those big, burly men when they let their walls down that just tug and tug and tug at my heartstrings!

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  39. This is such a moving story! There is still so much good in the world, and there are still a lot of good football players! Take for instance, Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks--he has taken his fame and used it to support children with hearing impairment.

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  40. As a Bengals fan, I was extremely happy to see the team doing something so great for humanity. With all the negative publicity that the NFL has always gotten for things that happen with players off the field, it is great to see an organization do something so amazing. Even if it was the Steelers I would think this was a great story. I hope that her odds of surviving continue to grow as she gets the treatment she needs.

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  41. Everything about this makes me so happy! I've been following the story and it definitely makes me root for the Bengals even more!

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  42. My husband literally just told me this story like word for word and now I think he may or may not read your blog.

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  43. My faith in the NFL was definitely restored (at least partially) when I heard this story. <3

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  44. Love this, definitely ugly crying.

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  45. I am tearing up here. What a fantastic display of compassion! Praying for that baby girl to get healthy again!

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  46. I'm a two time childhood cancer survivor and this story makes me cry every time I read it! Thanks for sharing :)

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  47. Aww I just gasped out loud when I saw the Saints' logo. So sweet! Thanks for sharing!

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  48. #WhoDey! He's actually playing for the Bengals and he's had a great play last week when I was at the game. Its great to see something positive from the NFL with all the BS going on. Thanks for highlighting this!

    -AJ
    OccasionallyAJ.com

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