Life throws people roadblocks.

How they respond to these events can often define who they are as people.

NIU running back Cameron Bell has been dealt some major blows.

But these bumps in the road haven’t come on the football field.

Rather, they shook his family.

The “first shock” came when Bell was six years old. At an early age, Cameron’s father, Charles, died of a massive heart attack.

“We learned how to live without him,” Bell said.

After his father’s death, Bell assumed more responsibilities on the chicken farm, where he grew up.

As a child, Bell would wake up in the early morning and attend to the livestock.

“It was our way of living,,” Bell said. “It was our way of getting by.”

  For support, Bell leaned on his mother, Mildred, who had to fill the void left after his father’s death.

Bell gained his tough-minded yet loving attributes from his mother. 

“That’s how she was,” Bell said. “And I want to be just like her.”

Six years later, Bell would lose his rock that he leaned on in so many ways.

His mother died on her birthday due to liver cancer.

“When I lost her, I felt like I lost everything,” Bell said.

In his mother’s will, she stated that her oldest son, Cory, who lived in Austin, Texas, would take legal guardianship of the remaining kids that needed to be raised.

The Bell family consisted of 13 total children, eight of which still needed to be raised.

In order to take care of his siblings, Cory would move Cameron and his seven other siblings from their hometown of Hopkins, South Carolina, to live with him in Austin.

It was there that his attention turned to football.

“I had always had an interest in it because my father was actually a very good football player coming out of high school,” Bell said. “I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

At first, Bell struggled with the game, as he didn’t fully understand the rules or what to do.

He went so far as to call himself “the most terrible football player you’d ever meet.”

Eventually, he made strides in high school, improving enough to garner even the attention of Iowa State’s football program, where he started his collegiate career.

But the Cyclones had other plans for Bell, moving him from his original position as a running back to linebacker.

Changes like this would continue to make appearances in his life, as another devastating loss would befall his family.

“My brother [Carlton] was murdered,” Bell said. “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I felt like everything that I went through with my mom, I was going through it again.”

At the time, Carlton was the person that Bell could express his frustration that he was enduring at Iowa State.

“It’s not only hard mentally, but it just physically brings you down,” Bell said.

The Round Rock, Texas native became increasingly unsatisfied with his role at Iowa State as a linebacker.

Bell wanted to return to the backfield.

He wanted a return to normalcy.

Knowing this, he pursued the chance to play running back elsewhere and eventually got his release.

Soon after, his sister Candace, would need his help.

She’d become pregnant, but her husband was constantly tied up with work and school.

With Cameron’s presence, he could aid his sister through her pregnancy.

 He then looked for an opportunity to play in the backfield and be close to home, and made a call to NIU head coach Jerry Kill.

“He was all for it,” Bell said.

Bell made it clear to Kill that family was the primary reason why he chose to be a Huskie.

“I made him aware of that’s what I’m here for; to help my sister,” Bell said.

But there was a reason to be concerned for his sister’s health.

When Candace was 13 years old, she had a heart valve replaced, which created the possibility of complications during child birth.

So when Candace went into labor, there was reason to be concerned.

“The last thing you want is when you’ve lost people in your life that you care about in your life, is to lose another one,” Bell said.

Candace would deliver Cameron’s niece, Sanah, with no problems.

“It was a huge relief,” Bell said.

Now, Candace admires the compassionate person that Cameron has become and the help he’s provided his family.

It’s this tough but tender presence that his family has always, and will always be able to depend on.