NFL’s Devon Still enjoys his wedding day at long last, with cancer-free daughter Leah as flower girl
Asha Joyce and Devon Still pose after their wedding ceremony with 6-year-old Leah Still.
Leah Still had just three things to tell the guests at her father's wedding on Friday.
"Thank you for everybody supporting me and I love my new family,” the 6-year-old cancer survivor said into a microphone during the reception at the New York Public Library.
After pausing to hug her father, Houston Texans defensive end Devon Still, and his new wife, Asha Joyce, the flower girl announced the third item on her agenda: "Now let's party!"
The party was a longtime coming for all three of them. The couple put their wedding plans on hold two years ago when Leah was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. Still, then with the Cincinnati Bengals, kept the public informed about his daughter's status through social media.
Leah was declared free of cancer in March 2015, allowing Still and Joyce to turn their attention to wedding plans.
"We put off the wedding because my daughter was battling cancer. Now that [the wedding] is officially here, it's the beginning of our future and the end to a hard time," Still told People magazine. "When I saw [Leah] even before the wedding, I got emotional. We'd been waiting for this moment for a long time."
He added: "To see my daughter walking here at my wedding, healthy, knowing she is cancer free is a tear-jerker for me. We are using this night to celebrate the strength that we have of making it together as a family. We're a hell of a team to make it through and to be here, finally happy and at peace."
But like Leah said, this was a party.
"This is my first real wedding!" Leah said. "It's great!"
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