Former NFL punter Kasey Redfern has died after a years-long battle with brain cancer. He was 35.
Redfern died on Tuesday, October 13, weeks after entering hospice care on September 26, which marked his 35th birthday.
Kasey’s wife, Lauryl, routinely shared updates on social media about her husband’s fight with the disease, including an emotional one last month that detailed the somber road ahead.
“It’s been a whirlwind of a week — one that has been really hard and full of emotional and mental overwhelm,” Lauryl wrote via Facebook on September 27. “Kasey had his appointment with Dr. Fanning on Wednesday and our conversation wasn’t easy. We’ve decided to move toward hospice care for Kasey.”
The post continued, “It seems that everything he’s been experiencing over the last couple of weeks — the falls, extreme decline in short term memory, random throwing up, and some other things are likely due to cognitive decline caused by neurotoxicity from all of the treatments he’s had over the last 3.5 years. His poor brain has had all it can take treatment wise so we want to make sure that he can be as comfortable as possible.”
Lauryl explained the move to hospice care would “help me to be able to love on him more/better and not have to do all of the caretaking as well.”
“It’s been a really hard few weeks with this extreme decline,” she acknowledged. “He’s still home and able to be home and could still have a lot more time with us, but we just can’t give him any more treatment.”
Lauryl concluded her post, “We know that healing will take place regardless of the outcome, but if he makes it to Heaven soon, he will have it better than the rest of us and for that all I can do is be thankful and joyful and filled with peace (and a lot of jealousy) that He will be WHOLE and in glory with our Savior — the best place we could ask to be.”
Lauryl and Kasey share two sons: Logan and Ollie.
The former NFL player was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and lymphoma in his brain in August 2023. A GoFundMe set up to financially assist the family has raised over $53,000.
Kasey was a member of seven NFL rosters — Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons — over the span of his career from 2014 to 2019.
