On Sunday, Detroit Lions play-by-play announcer Dan Miller missed his first radio broadcast in 22 years following the death of his wife. Cynthia “Cindy” Miller passed away after a two-year battle with cancer.
When the news dropped just before Detroit’s Week 5 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals, there was an outpouring of love from friends, family, the Lions organization, and fans who had connected with Dan through his passionate radio calls, thoughtful interviews with the team, and loving personality.
Miller’s impact on the community was obvious after the game, too. Lions coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff fought back tears to share just how much they were thinking of him and his family. And the Lions community raised more than $20,000 to support research for Leptomeningeal cancer, the one that took Cindy’s life way too soon. The Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation received hundreds of donations of $45.21, matching the score of the Lions’ victory that day.
Those donations will help the foundation create a virtual national tumor board, which will allow doctors and experts across the country to share cases, provide support, and educate both patients and clinicians. The hope is to make serious progress in treatment and finding cures.
On Tuesday evening, Miller made his first public appearance since his wife’s death, calling in to FOX 2’s “The Sports Office” to show his gratitude for all the recent support and love.
“I can’t express enough how much it has meant to me and my family, and how healing it has been to me and my family as we work our way through this,” Miller said.
Miller talked about Cindy’s the two-year battle, and why support and research is so important for this rare condition.
“It’s a terminal disease, it’s incurable, and you’re basically just trying to buy time,” Miller said. “We did buy some time. We were blessed to buy some time. But we knew we were going to lose her at some point, and we did. It’s a very rare form of cancer. It’s not one that a lot of people are familiar with, and it’s not one that a lot of people get. But it is one that we need to find some way to attack and find some better treatments for so that when people get it, they have a chance to extend life as long as possible.”
Miller admitted he has wanted to craft some sort of expression of gratitude for the outpouring of love, but just couldn’t find the words. But, personally, I thought he said it beautifully on the show.
“To see people respond like that has meant the world to us. And, honestly, not just the donations, but everybody that has reached out, everybody that has sent condolences, everybody that has sent—just saying they’re thinking about us, it means the world,” Miller said. “I’ve honestly tried to sit down and craft something on social media and I could never find the words. I could never find the appropriate tone. I could never find enough to cover my wife, our loss, her battle, the kindness of people, and just how it all meets at some point to the point where we’re at in our lives, and just how important they’ve been helping us get through these couple of days.
“Look, I’m well acquainted with One Pride and Lions fans, and I’m well acquainted with sports fans in Detroit. But when you’re in the vortex of something that we’ve been in here, and you feel their kindness and it’s right there aimed at you and your family, words can’t express how much it means.”
You can watch Miller’s entire segment on The Sports Office below:
You can watch the full episode The Sports Office here, which features a segment with yours truly talking about Dan, our fundraising campaign, and some Lions football, as well.
If you’d like to make a donation to the Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation, you can do so here.
