![Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) runs through drills during the seventh organized team activity at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. Monday, June 2, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_468,w_3818,h_2147/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/198/01k1597s93g54yprk2fg.jpg "Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) runs through drills during the seventh organized team activity at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. Monday, June 2, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]")
Josh Allen has made a living chasing down quarterbacks. But for the past seven months, he’s been chasing something much more personal—his son’s life.
When the Jacksonville Jaguars announced in late December 2024 that Allen would miss the final game of the season for “personal reasons,” fans assumed injury. The truth was far heavier: his son, Wesley, had just been diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.
What followed wasn’t covered by ESPN or blasted across NFL Live—it was a fight lived in hospital rooms, not stadiums. The Pro Bowl defensive end and his wife, Kaitlyn, spent sleepless nights at Nemours Children’s Health in Jacksonville, holding Wesley’s hand while chemo dripped into his tiny arm. In that time, Josh’s strength wasn’t measured in sacks or speed. It was in stillness, patience, and the kind of love that doesn’t ask for attention.
Now, Wesley’s on the road to a full recovery—and Josh is ready to tell the world.
In July, he posted rawly on X: “Seven months ago, our world stopped when our son, Wesley, was diagnosed with leukemia… Watching our little boy fight the biggest battle…” The post went viral—not because of star power, but because it was heartbreakingly human.
The dreaded six-letter word that no parent ever wants to hear: Cancer.
— Joshua Hines-Allen (@JoshHinesAllen) July 25, 2025
Seven months ago, our world stopped when our son, Wesley, was diagnosed with leukemia.
As parents, we've held each other through tears we didn't know we had, watching our little boy fight the biggest battle… pic.twitter.com/KN33gTTaRT
Josh and Kaitlyn aren’t just looking back. Through their nonprofit Four One For All, they’ve launched Four One For Hope, a 2025 campaign spotlighting cancer-fighting organizations like Nemours, Ronald McDonald House, American Cancer Society, and the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation; one per month in the NFL's regular season. It’s not PR—it’s personal.
And in late August, Wesley will ring the hospital’s victory bell at the campaign launch. That sound will echo louder than any stadium cheer.
Josh will return to the field this fall. But his biggest win already came in a hospital room, beside a little boy who never gave up.
For fans wanting to support their mission: givebutter.com/fouroneforhope. Because this story is so much bigger than football.