National Football League

Leah in the house: Still's daughter to attend Bengals-Browns game

Published Nov. 3, 2014 8:27 p.m. ET

foxsports

CINCINNATI -- The Bengals plan on presenting Cincinnati Children's Hospital with a check worth $1.25 million Thursday night during their game against Cleveland, and Leah Still is expected to be on hand to watch her dad play in person for the first time.

The ceremony to help the hospital in its fight against pediatric cancer was spurred by the story of Leah, the 4-year-old daughter of Bengals defensive lineman Devon Still, who was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma this past June.

Still said on Monday that doctors are allowing his daughter to travel from Philadelphia and that this will be the first time that she has been healthy enough to travel such a long distance since being diagnosed. Leah's story has captivated the country and sales of Still's No. 75 jersey, which provided the donation funds, reached nearly 15,000.

The Bengals originally ordered 1,000 jerseys for the sale.

"I know she's excited about coming to Cincinnati to see what Cincinnati has to offer," Still said. "I think the crowd will go crazy. They've been supporting her the whole time with her being all the way in Philadelphia. With her being here in Cincinnati and having a chance to see her, it's only going to get the crowd kind of hyped."

New Orleans head coach Sean Payton was among the first to order jerseys -- he got 100 of them within the first 24 hours they were available. The New England Patriots honored Leah by having their cheerleaders wear her dad's jersey in the second half of a nationally televised game in October, and owner Robert Kraft donated $25,000 in Leah's name to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Other NFL teams also have shown their support.

Still, 25, was a second-round draft pick of the Bengals in 2012 out of Penn State. His and his daughter's story drew greater attention when he was among the team's final cuts at the end of preseason. The Bengals signed him to their practice squad, enabling him to stay on the NFL's health insurance plan. He was re-signed to the 53-man roster before the second game of the season and has played in all seven games.

The Bengals have allotted Still additional time when he's needed it to attend to his daughter's needs since the offseason.

"It's going to be added motivation just knowing my daughter is watching me. I want her to be able to hear how the crowd cheers that loud whenever I make a tackle, so I'm going to go out there and do whatever I can to put a smile on her face," said Still, who has 14 tackles this season. "I'm trying not to think about it right now. I'm trying to think of the Browns. Like I said, it's a fast week and I don't want to get caught up in too much emotion with my daughter."

The game itself won't need much more build up. The Bengals (5-2-1) are in first place in the AFC North but the Browns (5-3) can leapfrog them with a victory in the first of two games between the teams. They play again on Dec. 14 in Cleveland.

Still normally has worn an eye-black patch during games that reads "Leah Strong," but in honor of Lauren Hill, another local cancer patient, he got his daughter's permission to change his message to "Lauren Strong" for Sunday's game against Jacksonville. Hill's story of playing college basketball for Mount St. Joseph University despite having an inoperable brain tumor has linked the Cincinnati community.

The Bengals showed highlights of Hill scoring in Mount St. Joseph's 66-55 win against Hiram during the fourth quarter Sunday. Cameras caught the image of Still staring up at the video replay board at Paul Brown Stadium and the emotions it evoked in him.

"Just being able to see Lauren live out her dream to play collegiate basketball and her not allowing this disease to slow her down, she's definitely an inspiration," Still said. "She's shown a lot of courage and strength to go through what she's going through. So Thursday is definitely going to top off a good week for me."

Leah will be sitting in a suite with the family of defensive tackle Domata Peko. Exactly how she will be involved with the ceremony has yet to be revealed. The most important part of the night for Still is that his daughter will be in attendance.

"It will probably be the most special game I'm ever going to play because I know my daughter is going to be here to watch me play," Still said. "All the money that's been raised for the cancer research is because of her strength and because she's fighting this disease. So it's definitely going to be an emotional game for me."