Former NFL punter Kasey Redfern has died at 35 after years of treatment for a brain tumor later identified as CNS lymphoma, as his wife described a final move into hospice care.

Breitbart reported that Jonathan Lawson, chief investigator for the Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office in South Carolina, confirmed Redfern’s death. Officials have not yet released details on the cause or manner of death.

Redfern’s wife, Lauryl, had already told followers on Facebook that “the love of my life” was shifting toward hospice as his health collapsed. The family had been fighting a devastating diagnosis for years.

A GoFundMe campaign launched in 2023 first made public that Redfern had a brain tumor. Doctors later identified it as CNS lymphoma, a cancer affecting the brain and central nervous system. His wife said he had endured treatments for the past 3.5 years.

That kind of hard medical fight has become a grim part of sports news, much like when a star quarterback was sidelined by a blood clot and fans suddenly faced how fragile an athlete’s body can be.

In her Facebook update, Lauryl Redfern laid out the brutal turn in the final stretch.

"It seems that everything he’s been experiencing over the last couple of weeks, the falls, extreme decline in short-term memory, random throwing up, and some other things- is likely due to cognitive decline caused by neurotoxicity from all of the treatments he’s had over the last 3.5 years,"

She added that the goal had become simple comfort.

"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,"

Redfern reached the NFL in 2014 when the Jacksonville Jaguars signed him out of Wofford College. Over four seasons he also spent time with the Chargers, Panthers, Browns, Lions, Cowboys, and Falcons. Punting is unforgiving work; careers are often short and rarely glamorous.

Sudden loss of a young player still hits hard, the same way communities reeled when a Columbine freshman football player died at 16 and an entire school community had to absorb the shock.

Lauryl Redfern met the end of her husband’s fight with open faith rather than bitterness. She wrote that if he reached Heaven soon, he would be whole again.

"he will have it better than the rest of us and for that all I can do is be thankful and joyful and filled with peace (and a lot of jealousy) that He will be WHOLE and in glory with our Savior, the best place we could ask to be."

Public deaths of people still in their prime leave the same empty space whether the person wore a jersey, held office, or wore a badge. Readers have seen that pattern when a Colorado mayor pro tem died suddenly on a mountain hike and again when first responders fall without warning.

South Carolina officials have confirmed only that Redfern is gone. The coroner’s office has not released further information. What is clear is the timeline his wife described: years of aggressive treatment, a sharp decline in recent weeks, a turn to hospice, and then death at 35.

Other recent tragedies, including a Utah firefighter killed in a wingsuit accident, remind families how quickly strength can give way. Redfern’s case was slower and more public through the GoFundMe and his wife’s posts, but the ending was the same.

An earlier report also covered how the former NFL punter died at 35 after a long illness, underscoring the same core facts now confirmed by the coroner’s office.

A young husband and former pro athlete is gone too soon. His wife’s words point past the hospital room to faith, gratitude, and the hope of being made whole. That is the only solid ground left when medicine has done all it can.