Jim Kelly Declared Cancer-Free After Latest Exam

In a fight that was looking one-sided, Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly has pulled off a win far bigger than any he ever had in 11 years with the Buffalo Bills. He was ruled cancer-free after his latest round of biopsies came back negative.  

According to a press release, via Dan Hanzus of NFL.com, Kelly noted that his road to full health is still long but that he's ecstatic about the news:

"This is some of the greatest news I've ever gotten," Kelly said in the release. "It’s been a long road, and I’m still not back to one hundred percent, but I have a lot to be thankful for."

Kelly had been battling a recurrence of cancer in his mouth since March. In a detailed interview with Peter King of TheMMQB.com, the Buffalo legend talked about the struggles he had mentally just accepting everything he was going through:

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I guarantee the normal person wouldn’t have been able to take it. Some days, I don’t know how I did. I complained about my headaches for months, and for a while I thought it was just part of the healing process from such a serious surgery. But obviously it was more than that. I’d look up to the Lord and say, ‘I give. Uncle. You got me.'

"

Though he certainly didn't sound optimistic at the time, Kelly's fight and the hard-working doctors that he said in the King piece were upbeat because his cancer was "very treatable and potentially curable." It took longer than anyone would have liked, but the doctors were right. 

In trying to sum up the news about Kelly being cancer-free, his former teammate with the Bills, Steve Tasker, had the best response on Twitter because it was the simplest one:

If the news about Kelly isn't enough to bring a smile to your face, his wife Jill posted a video on Instagram of his phone call to their daughter telling her about the diagnosis:

We are so overwhelmed by bad news, whether it's sports related or around the world, every day that it's refreshing to have something positive to talk about. By his own admission, Kelly's got work to do before he's back to full health. 

However, when you consider how dark things appeared for the legendary quarterback and his family when it was announced the cancer returned, Kelly will welcome this next challenge with arms wide open. That's all anyone can ask for when tasked with battling a life-threatening disease. 

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