Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly has again been diagnosed with oral cancer.
“As our family has faced many trials and triumphs throughout the years, you have blessed us with your prayers. We are asking for those prayers once again,” Kelly said. “With all of you by my side, we will fight and win this battle together.”
Kelly was originally diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma a few years ago. He had surgery in June 2013 to remove part of his upper jaw.
Nine months later, tests showed the cancer had spread to his sinus. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He lost about 70 pounds during treatment.
He was then declared cancer-free in fall 2014.
According to CBN News, Kelly said last week that the cancer had returned.
“Staying ‘Kelly Tough’ and trusting God will carry us through this difficult time,” he said.
Kelly had just turned 58 a few weeks before the news.
“We are shocked, heartbroken, sad, angry, confused and just darn tired,” his wife Jill Kelly wrote on her Instagram page. “Yet despite how we feel, we KNOW that God is a promise maker and keeper. … The more life and heartbreak I experience, the more I realize that this is not the end of the story.”
Kelly spent 11 seasons with the Bills before retiring after the 1996 season.
In early 2017, he also joined with several cancer organizations and pharmaceutical company Merck for a campaign to help people diagnosed with cancer.
He still lives in Buffalo where he heads his Kelly for Kids charitable foundation.
“Jim is a tough and courageous man, and we know he will fight this battle with strength and determination,” the Bills said in a statement released by the team. “The Buffalo Bills will support the Kelly family during this trying time, and we ask our fans to pray for the family, as Jim beings the treatment process and the road to recovery.”
Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Publication date: March 5, 2018
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