Raleigh woman's personal connection to NFL player's daughter battling cancer
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A Raleigh woman is praying for another miracle after the Cincinnati Bengals resigned her granddaughter's father to keep the cancer-stricken little girl covered under the NFL's insurance policy.
The Bengals re-signed defensive tackle Devon Still to its practice squad, after cutting him from the team's roster earlier. The agreement guarantees his daughter Leah, diagnosed with neuroblastoma, will receive 100-percent medical coverage, and pays Still $6,300 per week.
"That's good for him, it is and you know for her to keep her insurance that's good for them," Beverlee Baker told ABC11, but she said it still won't help her visit the 4-year-old, who lives with her daughter Channing Smythe 400 miles away.
Baker works for State Rep. George Graham (D) Dist. 12, in the General Assembly, which is out of session now. She's back in the office this week after taking a month-long leave of absence, which cost her pay. She says Monday morning Smythe told her about another setback with Leah's treatments at a children's hospital in Philadelphia.
"My daughter called me [Monday] morning and said, 'Mom's she's really bad off can you come?' I could not go," said Baker, "I help her [Leah's] mother, because her mother is really by herself because the father is in Cincinnati, and Channing is in Delaware."
She says Leah has high blood pressure and a low white blood cell count right now, which is the worst she's been since doctors diagnosed her back in June. That's when the family first got the grim prognosis.
"Devon came in and he was just bawling. I knew immediately something was wrong and he kind of just sat there and then he said 'cancer' and after that I really went blank. I don't know what happened," she explained. "The doctors say she has a 50/50 chance. That doesn't sit well with me."
Baker showed ABC11 pictures of Leah from last summer when she came to work with her in the state capitol. She recalls the child suffering pain then.
"Last year when she was here running up and down the halls sometimes she would say, 'oh my leg hurts' or we'd tell her to do something and she said, 'oh this hurts' we thought she was faking," said Baker.
Videos show Leah singing Fantasia's "Lose to Win" song -- which Baker believes pretty much sums up the little girl's attitude.
"I have pictures of her from last week in the hospital. She's smiling; she's just that kind of child. If you saw her now, other than being bald, you wouldn't know other than the situation she's in now right now. Two weeks ago when I was there we had a good time," Baker said.
In addition to this gofundme page Baker's sister set up months ago to help pay for her travel expense, Baker's counting on her faith to get everyone through.
"Somebody said to us all of y'all in...Hmm, no we're not in a fairytale land. We believe God is going to heal her."
Leah will have to undergo a surgery to remove a tumor from her stomach Sept. 16. Baker hopes she will be able to make the trip.
