Carolina Panthers’ former linebacker Dean Wells has died after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 54.
Wells, who played in the NFL for nearly a decade, died on Wednesday, April 3, reported the Carolina Panthers.
The professional athlete played for the Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks, getting drafted into the latter in 1993 after his college football career at the University of Kentucky. He retired from professional football in 2001.
In early 2023, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and started chemotherapy. ALL is a fast-progressing cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, leading to the production of immature blood cells.
Following months of chemo treatment, Wells’ cancer initially went into remission before he later received the news in the fall that it had returned.
Wells spoke about his cancer fight with sports outlet KSR in April 2024.
“Show me who to tackle and I can do that,” Wells told the outlet. “This is in the doctors’ hands and it’s in God’s hands.”
He mentioned the support he was receiving and his efforts to stay positive in light of the challenging diagnosis in the interview.
“So many teammates have reached out. ‘You’re one of the toughest guys I’ve ever met. I know you’ll beat this,’” he said. “There’s mental toughness that comes into it. You have to have a positive attitude that you can beat it. I’ve done everything that I can with that. It’s like the chemo either works or it doesn’t. You just don’t have a lot of control over it. You wish you had more control.”
Wells added that he learned his positive outlook from his mother.
“Generally speaking, my mother was a very positive person and I think she kind of rubbed off on me in that regard,” he added. “Not that I’m not scared and everything else you would expect with the possibility of dying, but you still gotta find a way to enjoy every day and stay positive.”
According the Carolina Panthers, Wells spent much of the last year of his life raising awareness about how to help in the fight against cancer, including encouraging people to donate blood, donate to cancer research initiatives and to join the bone marrow registry.
Wells is survived by his wife Lisa and two sons.
