Kenechi Udeze | A NFL Career cut short by cancer

Kenechi Udeze was a first-round draft pick of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings coming out of the University of Southern California, but four seasons into his professional career it was all cut short. Udeze was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Kenechi is now an assistant coach with the University of Washington football program and involved in several charities including the Livestrong Foundation. I recently had a quick portrait session with Kenechi and wanted to share a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

The football Kenechi brought as a prop for our shoot was borrowed directly out of Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian’s office, as even for an assistant college football coach it is hard to find a pigskin laying around in the offseason!