Leah Still, too sick to attend, to be honored at ESPYs
Leah Still, whose year-long battle against cancer has inspired millions, a will be honored Wednesday night with the Jimmy V. Perseverance Award at the ESPYs.
CBS Sports reports that Leah's dad, Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still, will accept the award on her behalf.
Five-year-old Leah continues to receive treatment at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, CBS Philly reports.
Devon Still posted on Instagram that while he and family members would be in Los Angeles for the ceremony, "We are short one princess but unfortunately the doctors didn't give her the ok because her immune system is still weak."
A photo posted by Devon Still (@man_of_still75) on
Leah was diagnosed in June 2014 with a pediatric nerve cell cancer called neuroblastoma. Her father announced in March that Leah's cancer is in remission, but she has suffered a number of setbacks and complications from her treatment. After undergoing a stem cell transplant, she developed a condition called veno-occlusive disease, or VOD, which blocks blood flow to the liver and can be fatal. She recovered from that and was released from the hospital last month.
The Jimmy V. Perseverance Award was named in honor of former North Carolina State men's basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993. Six weeks before his death, Valvano delivered an emotional speech while accepting a humanitarian award at the ESPYs, telling the audience: "I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have.... Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever."