NFL Star's Wife Dies of Lung Cancer One Month After Wedding

This story reminds me of Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw's movie, Love Story, but this story is true and the people are African-American.

LaKeasha Monique Rutledge-Draft and NFL free agent Chris Draft, the couple in the very moving wedding video, were married on November 27, 2011, and one month later, December 27, Keasha died from a rare form of lung cancer.

As you can see in the wedding video posted below and produced by KRJ Productions, members of the bridal party wheeled the bride down the aisle, but she stood, walked, and took her vows sitting next to the groom. Later in the video you'll see her walk arm-in-arm with Chris down the aisle while a friend holds her oxygen tank. She also dances with her husband standing right behind her at the reception, and you can see the medical tube coming from her nose and circling around her cheeks.

The music playing in the above trailer is "Spend My Life With You" by Eric Benet featuring Tamia. The wedding trailer was produced by KRJ PRODUCTIONS and is hosted on Vimeo.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Draft, a former linebacker with the Falcons, announced his wife's death on his website, writing:

“My wife, (La)Keasha Monique Rutledge Draft passed away today at 12:04 pm. RIP Sweetie.”

The AJC also reports that Draft is "civic-minded" and works with children in the Atlanta community. In addition, it reports that in 2002 he "helped pull a man from a burning car on Interstate-85 in Duluth, Ga."

As I contemplate this story, I wonder how the pair met and about their decision to marry despite the bride's battle with cancer. It reminds me of a movie that dominated the box office for a time in 1970, Love Story, starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw, which "is considered to be one of the most romantic movies of all time." It is about a pair of young lovers desperately in love who marry, but unfortunately, the wife has leukemia. However, the lovers in the movie do not discover the wife has cancer until after they are married.

I also remember the stories after President Barack Obama's inauguration about the first couple's relationship as a pattern for others and a positive image of African-American love. Keasha and Chris's story falls into that same category of positive images. In it you don't hear whispers of prenups or ulterior motives: What did she have to gain from marrying him knowing that her time was short, and what drove him to make her his wife in her last days? The answer must be an affirmation of love.

As MsLadyDeborah said of Keasha and Chris's story on Facebook, it is "more about love than it is about loss." She added the following:

This video made me cry. Not for the loss that has occurred. I found myself remembering that marriage is still one of the most important unions between people. It brings families into oneness and changes the idenity of each member. That is still very important in our lives. Because there is so much talk about our inability to get along with each other that we forget not everyone has those type of relationships.

It appears from KRJ Production's Vimeo account that it posted the wedding video weeks before Keasha's death, and I'm so glad it was posted so the rest of us can see the person behind the death announcement.

LaKeasha was born in South Carolina, and you may read her obituary at Greenville Online via Legacy.com. According to her LinkedIn profile, she attended Clemson University and later worked in sales in the pharmaceuticals industry in Atlanta. She was 38 years old. My heart goes out to Chris Draft and both families.

The slideshow of still photos that you can watch above was also produced by KRJ Productions and indicates that Keasha and Chris had a long, loving courtship. (The pictures also suggest that she may have had a connection at some point in her life to the Honey Bees, the dance team of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, but I have not been able to verify that information.) Multiple websites, such as the YBF.com and Clutch Magazine, have reported that the family requests prayers.

Updated December 31, 2011: Here is part of the announcement posted on the Chris Draft Family Foundation website:

Lakeasha Monique Rutledge Draft passed away on Tuesday, December 27. She courageously faced lung cancer, showing us all with every breath that we all need to hold onto life and love with both hands for as long as we can. Not just an inspiration, but a light, and a force that led the way with a beautiful, sweet smile and bright shining eyes that both belied the pure steel of her strength and determination. ... A Celebration of Keasha Rutledge Draft's life will be held on Saturday, December 31st, 1pm at Calvary Baptist Church in Williamston, South Carolina. She will be laid to rest following the Celebration at New Prospect Baptist Church.

"In lieu of flowers, the family asks for support of Team Draft, the Chris Draft Family Foundation's tribute to Keasha." Read more at Chris Draft's site.

I discovered this true love story through a friend who shared it on Facebook via Clutch Magazine.