the cincinnati bengals recently cut defensive tackle devon still from their roster. he understood, and harbored no animosity towards the team. but in the spirit of compassion, still was reassigned to the bengals' practice squad in order for him to pay for his daughter's cancer treatments.
as a practice squad player, the 25 year-old still will be paid $6,300 per week in salary, as well as much needed medical insurance. his beautiful four year-old daughter, leah, has stage four pediatric cancer. she was diagnosed in june.
still told abc news, "i completely understand where the bengals were coming from when they cut me because i couldn't give football 100% right now. they could have washed their hands with me and said they didn't care what i was going through off the field...it's like a blessing in disguise."
being on the practice squad also means still won't have to travel as much as other players. he'll have more time to spend with his daughter before and/or after her chemotherapy sessions. still said, "we're going to go to battle with cancer. she's willing to put up a fight to beat it."
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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