Pro Football Hall of Famer, Former UM Star Jim Kelly Announces Return of Oral Cancer

Jim Kelly, who started at the University of Miami before a Hall of Fame pro football career, announced Thursday that his oral cancer has returned.

The 58-year-old released a statement saying that he has been while fans have blessed his family with prayers during past battles with the disease, “we are asking for those prayers once again.”

Jim Kelly has announced that his cancer has returned.

We're all with you, JK. #PrayersforJK #KellyTough pic.twitter.com/bx2c37ur1b

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) March 1, 2018

“Although I was shocked and deeply saddened to receive this news, I know that God is with me. I continuously talk about the four F's: Faith, Family, Friends and Fans. With all of you by my side, we will fight and win this battle together,” Kelly wrote.

The man who led the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s, Kelly had a part of his jaw removed in 2013 when the cancer was first diagnosed. After it returned in 2014, Kelly went through another round of chemotherapy and radiation before being announced as cancer free in September of that year.

Kelly’s wife, Jill, posted a message on Instagram saying the family is “sad, angry…and darn tired.”

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The cancer is back. We are shocked, heartbroken, sad, angry, confused, and just darn tired. Yet, despite how we feel, we KNOW that God is a promise maker and keeper. He is who He says He is! He can do what He says He can do! We don’t have to understand His ways to trust His heart. The battle is HIS. (Exodus 14:14) We need you... In addition to our faith, family, and friends...we really need you and your prayer warrior friends to pray. We’re all in this together. THANK YOU! The more life and heartbreak I experience, the more I realize that this is not the end of the story. Life is temporary. And short. But eternity...is FOREVER. Because we know that our eternity is secure in Christ, we can trust God with every breath upon this earth.

A post shared by Jill Kelly (@jillmkelly) on Mar 1, 2018 at 8:13am PST

Kelly was elected to UM’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 after becoming the first in a line of top quarterbacks to suit up for the Hurricanes. Kelly threw for over 5,200 yards and 33 touchdowns in his Coral Gables career, highlighted by the first bowl win for the program in 15 seasons in leading the team to the 1980 Peach Bowl over Virginia Tech.