At first, Sauphia Lanning thought she might just ring the bell by herself.
“I’m not a big ‘let’s come celebrate me’ type of person,” she said.
But then she thought of everyone who had checked in on her and prayed for her as she battled cancer over the past nine months. She thought of her “football family” at the University of Memphis — the coaches who work alongside her husband, Tigers inside linebackers coach Dan Lanning, and their families. She decided that she wanted them all to be there.
So when Sauphia Lanning rang the bell at West Cancer Center in Germantown on Monday morning, signifying the end of her chemotherapy treatments, she was joined by coach Mike Norvell and his wife, Maria, and a crowd of other football staffers and their wives. Director of player relations Braxton Brady led the group in prayer. It was a powerful moment, Sauphia Lanning said.
“I (wanted) everybody to be there and come witness what their love and their blessings and all their prayers (had achieved),” she said. “For me it signifies God’s love for us and what the power of prayer is, what everybody’s love can do for us. It’s just amazing.”
To read more, please visit http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/college/memphis-tigers/football/2017/05/08/memphis-football-family-helps-celebrate-cancer-fight-milestone/313319001/.