Bills Hall of Fame quarterback had a long battle with oral cancer that gave him a bleak prognosis and required multiple surgeries on his jaw, radiation and chemotherapy. But more than three years after announcing that the cancer was gone, Kelly says there’s been no recurrence and his health is now good.
While hosting his football camp in Buffalo and throwing passes to kids, Kelly spoke with his speech only mildly affected, and said he’s healthy.
“I still feel good,” he said, via the Buffalo News. “Mouth still hurts every once in a while, doing all the talking. But overall, I love it. I really do.”
Kelly said he’s now more concerned about the health of others, including Ed Abramoski, the longtime Bills trainer who recently died at the age of 88, and Bills owner Kim Pegula, who is recovering from an undisclosed health issue that has required her to be hospitalized.
“Eddie Abramoski, who passed away, was not only a very good friend of mine, but he was my trainer, my whole career,” Kelly said. “We miss him, and we’re all going back and forth with that. And then now with Kim Pegula, struggling now and praying for her.”
Kelly said his only ailment now is feeling old when the young campers tell him where they heard about him.
“Their grandfathers and grandmothers told them about me,” he said. “It wasn’t a mom and dad, it was grandfathers and grandmothers.”