NFL star's moving pep talk to young daughter on her way into cancer surgery

On the way to hospital for his young daughter to have cancer surgery, an NFL star filmed his moving pep talk used to inspire the brave little girl.

"I might be nervous and scared beyond words but I'll never let her see it," Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackler Devon Still wrote under the clip posted on his Instagram account.

His four-year-old daughter Leah, who is already bald from previous cancer treatments, grins widely in the 10-second video as her dad pumps up her confidence.

"I'mma ask you again: I'm ready for today, you ready for today?" Still says as his daughter smiles and nods.

"You ready to get this cancer up out of you?"

He finishes with an air fist bump to his backseat passenger.

The video has attracted more than 22,000 likes since it was shared earlier today.

Still later posted photos of Leah in recovery after the almost-six-hour surgery to remove all of the tumours, her lymph nodes and her right adrenal gland.

"Best news I've received in a long time," he said.

Leah still has stage four cancer that has spread to her bone marrow, which will be the target of future treatments, Still said.

"My daughter is not cancer free. Today was a big step towards that but still a long road ahead," he wrote on Twitter.

After initially being cut from the team, Still was re-signed by the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this month to help him pay for Leah's cancer treatments.

As a member of the squad, he receives medical insurance and a weekly salary of more than $6000.