A University of Minnesota football player is a four-time cancer survivor who has undergone 14 surgeries.

Casey O’Brien was just a freshman in high school when he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

He came in for the first hold of his career Saturday at Rutgers. 

”It means the world to me,” O’Brien said after the game, according to the Big Ten Network. ”There’s been so many ups-and-downs — nights in the hospitals and surgeries and everything like that — that’s gone into this moment. This is what I dreamed about, and tonight, it got to come true.”

According to Pioneer Press, O’Brien spent 200 days in hospital and cancer returned three times during his fight. He has had 14 surgeries in all, three apiece on each lung, and months of chemotherapy. 

”He’s an unbelievable person, and he’s been through an awful lot,” Fleck told Big Ten. ”When you think courage, you think Casey O’Brien. When you think row the boat, you think our program.”

O’Brien delivered an emotional speech at Big Ten luncheon saying, ”Once again I would not let it stop me,”

”I took chemo pills before every practice in my first spring ball. Did not miss a practice. I spent all of last season wearing a specially made shirt with a pad sewn into it to protect a medical port in my chest for treatment I was receiving. Did not miss a practice.”

”I’m over one year cancer-free,”

”I am thankful for every day that we get to spend together as a family — the good ones and the bad ones — because I know that tomorrow is never promised,” O’Brien continued. ”All the tests, scans, blood work, chemotherapy, loss of hair and everything else that happens when you fight cancer have been worth it.”

 

 

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