Some inspiration from the field

I’m not the biggest football fan, but I came across this really uplifting article about a former NFL player that had non-hodgkin’s.

Merril Hoge played for the Steelers, and has a new book about his experiences in the NFL.

“From a young age, Merril knew it would be up to him to act on his dreams. He suffered abuse at the hand of his father, lost his mother at age 19, and was considered “too small and too slow” to play professional football.

He proved his critics wrong. Merril played eight seasons in the NFL before retiring in 1995 after a series of concussions. But in 2003, he faced his biggest challenge of all: cancer. Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Merril took on chemotherapy with the same tenacity that got him to the NFL.”

Now Hoge is a commentator on ESPN. It’s really heartening to hear success stories about people suffering with this kind of cancer. I’m thinking about putting together a list of people who have or had non-Hodgkin’s. If you know of anyone famous, feel free to let me know.