Son Of Former CBS 11 Sports Director Babe Laufenberg Loses Fight With Cancer

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It was in 2017 when Luke Laufenberg, the son of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS 11 Sports Director Babe Laufenberg, began his battle with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Today he lost that fight.

It was just weeks after the end of the Mesa Community College football season, where Luke played tight end, that he was first diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma -- a very rare and aggressive form of blood cancer that affects only 1,200 Americans per year.

At one point his weight was down to 155 pounds, but Luke kept going, survived a number of complications while undergoing chemotherapy, and persevered.

In what the Laufenberg family said was "typical," Luke, a former Liberty Christian High School graduate and Texas A&M walk-on, fought long and hard and was declared cancer free in May of 2018.

In February of this year Luke, then weighing a solid 235 pounds, accepted a scholarship to play tight end for the University of Texas at El Paso.

Luke, expecting to start for the Miners this fall, had already reported to campus and begun his off-season training program, but came back to North Texas in April to be with his family.

In July doctors at Children's Medical Center Dallas told Luke "his condition was terminal and that he had just a few weeks left."

Today, calling his son a "warrior," Babe confirmed his son had passed away.

In:
• Texas News
• Cancer