‘Most courageous’: Boy who died of cancer left his mark on Charlotte 49ers football team

CHARLOTTE — The University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s football team is among a long list of people forever changed by little boy.

On Tuesday, Devin Kiser died following a six-year battle with leukemia.

“He was the most courageous, positive human being I’ve ever been around,” said head football coach Will Healy.

It was nearly impossible to meet a child like Devin and leave that meeting the same.

“I think a lot of times in college football, and I’m not holier-than-thou by any stretch, but you do something for a young child or somebody, and it’s kind of a one-and-done deal. It’s a feel-good story. Devin was different,” Healy said.

For nearly half his young life, Devin battled a form of cancer called lymphoblastic leukemia. He recovered three different times.

In 2020, Devin even joined the Charlotte 49ers football team, where there were clearly few who were more faithful, and where Charlotte adopted him as family.

“It was never, ‘I fell like I need to do this.’ It was ‘I want to go do this, I want to see him, I want to be around him,’” Healy said. “Our players want to pray for him, our players want to ask how he’s doing. It was like he was one of us.”

Dennis Murphy helped facilitate the program’s initial connection to Devin, as founder of the nonprofit Friends of Jaclyn, named after his daughter. Their mission is to help improve the quality of life for children battling brain tumors and pediatric cancer.

“He puts things into perspective for a lot of us who think we have a lot of ‘life’s tough.’ Tough is Devin,” Murphy said.

But much like sports and life, not every battle is won. At 4:55 a.m. Tuesday, Devin died, but not before leaving an imprint.

“The one moment to me that I remember more than anything is this past summer where he was learning to walk again ... and he came in with his whole family to fall camp, was in a wheelchair,” Healy said. “As soon as he walked in the team room, he stood up out of a wheelchair and walked in the room.”

Healy said he’s not sure he’s met stronger parents or siblings than Devin’s family.

“We had Marcus Lattimore that came out our first year here, and I’ll never forget this quote. He said, ‘Suffering ceases to be suffering the moment you give it meaning,’” Healy said. “The purpose of telling the Devin story is about Devin. It’s not about what Charlotte football did for Devin. … I mean, he did a lot more for us than we could ever do for him.”

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