Can you mentally prepare for this? After one months of marriage, Lakeasha Monique Rutledge Draft (38), wife of former NFL Linebacker Chris Draft (35) passed away due to lung cancer, on Tuesday, Dec 27, 2011. In a private ceremony, Chris married Lakeasha on 27 November 2011 in Atlanta where Lakeasha, weakened due to illness proceeded down to aisle in wheelchair and walked a few steps to join Chris to exchange vows. The story of Drafts is an inspiration to all who believe that “true love means loving unconditionally and being there for each other in thick and thin”. Chris Draft not only honored the wish of terminally ill Lakeasha to get married, but loved her throughout the illness; it takes a strong will and a great heart full of love to not only say “I do” but walk the talk.
Chris knew about his wife’s condition and the fact that she may not live long, yet he married her – and one is left wondering from where did he get the strength to take the bold decision and face the life’s cruelty that within a few weeks of marrying his wife, he had to arrange for her burial. Is it the same mental toughness that made him a star football player at NFL. This mind set gave him the strength to look at the things in perspective and make the bold decision or was it the glimpse of fragility of life that helped him realize that he had only a limited time to bundle up all the undying love and fill the days of his love of life with it; or was it the reciprocity of love- as Lao Tzu said “”To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved deeply by someone gives you courage.” Whatever may have been the reasons, Chris’s faith in self and his love for his wife has won many hearts across the world and has made people sit up and introspect their own degenerating relationships because of petty issues; of broken marriages and sore hearts and has shown the world to love their partners perfectly than seek perfection in their partners and as rightly put in words by Jerry Cook- “Love is seeking to act for the other person’s highest good.”
Chris’s clear perspective on what he wanted made him choose where most others would have hesitated in the name of practicality and that shows the triumph of love. Chris had met Lakeasha, in Charlotte where he had been transferred to play for Carolina Panthers. Keasha, as she was fondly called was a professional cheerleader and worked with Chris Draft who lived in Atlanta on his charitable foundations and was diagnosed with cancer a year ago while working as a pharmaceutical sales representative in Atlanta. The courage, endurance, character and virtues displayed by Chris and his love for his wife has become a source of inspiration for many and would always be remembered.
Chris Draft mourned the passing away of his wife and released a statement on the family’s foundation website:
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.
Strong is too pale, too shallow and too small of a word to describe Keasha’s vibrancy… Quite simply, she was ferocious. She fiercely held onto life, and love with a forcefulness that was absolutely awe-inspiring and completely breathtaking. Rest in peace, Mrs. Draft.
