Kasey Redfern “fought an incredible fight” before he tragically died of cancer this week, the former NFL punter’s wife said on Friday.
In an emotional statement to the California Post, Lauryl Redfern said her husband passed away on Tuesday afternoon at 35 years old following a three-and-a-half-year battle with central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma after he “received many miracles from the Lord along the way.”
“He shouldn’t have lived as long as he did,” she said, “but he fought an incredible fight. He smiled the whole way through, never questioned why and always knew God had a purpose for this, having great hope that his miracle would be healing on Earth.”
Kasey was initially diagnosed with the aggressive form of cancer in the spring of 2023 after doctors discovered a tumor on his brain.
He underwent countless treatments, but last month, Lauryl announced in a Facebook post that he had made a “move toward hospice care” after his health had deteriorated in recent weeks.
“It seems that everything he’s been experiencing over the last couple 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,” Lauryl said.
“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.”
Kasey starred at Wofford from 2010 to 2013, handling both place kicking and punting duties.
He then began his NFL career in 2014 after the Jacksonville Jaguars signed him as an undrafted free agent.
During his NFL tenure, which spanned from 2014 to 2019, Kasey signed contracts with multiple teams, including the Chargers, Panthers, Browns, Lions, Cowboys and Falcons.
He averaged 42.1 yards per punt in four total regular season games.
Kasey is survived by his wife and their two children, a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old who were both born following his time in the NFL.
