Dan Miller appeared on television for the first time since the death of his wife.
Miller, the longtime radio voice of the Detroit Lions and the sports director at Fox 2 (WJBK), appeared on a segment of the "Sports Office" on Tuesday, Oct. 14, and thanked the Metro Detroit community for the outpouring of support
Cindy Miller, Dan's wife of 33 years, died Oct. 10 after a two-year battle with cancer.
"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 Tuesday night, speaking to Fox 2 colleague Jennifer Hammond. "To see people respond like that has meant the world to us.
"When you're in the vortex of something that we've been in here and you feel their kindness and you see it and it's right there aimed at you and your family, words can't express how much it means.
"I've heard all of you, I've seen your messages, and it means the world.
More: Dan Miller opens up on wife's death: Makes you appreciate 'gift of time'
"Thank you."
Two years ago, doctors discovered tumors on Cindy Miller's brain. She had surgery to remove them, but in January of this year, the cancer returned.
She was diagnosed with Leptomeningeal Disease (LMD), a rare form of cancer which wraps around the spinal cord. There is no cure. Dan Miller said the last 10 months "were brutal." Cindy Miller was 63.
"We did buy some time, and we were blessed to buy some time," Dan Miller said on Fox 2 on Tuesday night. "We knew we were going to lose her at some point, and we did.
"She was doing everything she could just to stay with her family, her grandchildren and everybody who meant everything to her.
"She was the strongest person I ever met before she got cancer.
"She just battled nonstop, even till the very end."
Miller missed the Lions' 45-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but Miller and his family were in the Lions' thoughts. After the game, head coach Dan Campbell said he was giving the game ball to Miller and his family, including their four children and two grandchildren. Quarterback Jared Goff also got emotional talking about Miller.
Many Lions fans turned the victory into a tribute to the Millers, who asked that in lieu of flowers, people consider donations to the Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation.
More than 300 individual donations, totaling more than $20,000, have poured into the foundation since Cindy Miller's death, including several in the amount of $45.21, the final score of Sunday's game.
"It's an unbelievable community that we are a part of here, and we are blessed, and I knew that before this. But this just, again, reinforces it," Dan Miller said. "People have been unbelievable, and we're just so grateful.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dan Miller appears on TV after wife's death: Support 'means the world'