Solutions February 2019 | Page 16

Solutions General Editor, Kelinda Crawford, met with Devon Still to talk about the challenges he faced when his young daughter Leah was diagnosed with a rare pediatric cancer. Kelinda: Devon, you’ve had to face many challenges through the years, but I think it’s safe to say your greatest challenge began the day your four- year-old daughter, Leah, was diagnosed with cancer. Can you tell us about your initial reaction to the news? 16 • Solutions Devon: My initial reaction was I thought I was going to lose my daughter. For some reason that word “cancer” represented death to me. I allowed those thoughts to consume me for the first couple of weeks until one day I decided to stop saying I didn’t want my daughter to die and starting saying I wanted her to live. Kelinda: In your book, Still In the Game, you write, “I decided I wouldn’t focus on not wanting Leah to die. I decided