Gold Jacket Jim Kelly Partners with Merck to Kick Off ‘Your Cancer Game Plan’

During a heartfelt testimony in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s new exhibit, ‘A Game for Life’, Gold Jacket Jim Kelly explains how the values of the game helped prepare him for his greatest challenge in life, cancer.
 


Kelly, who is a head and neck cancer survivor has now teamed up with leading cancer organizations and Merck to launch a new awareness campaign, Your Cancer Game Plan. The program focuses on helping people with cancer and their love one’s deal with the emotional and physical ills of this disease.
 
Helping patients through various programs from nutrition and communications needs, Kelly plans to put his motto ‘Kelly Tough’ into action. A motto that he adopted from his playing days as one of the toughest quarterbacks to have ever played in the National Football League. ‘Kelly Tough’ took on a new meaning with the Hall of Fame signal-caller was diagnosed with head and neck squamous cell cancer, in his upper jaw, in 2013.
 
“I know first-hand the special challenges people living with this disease and their families face,” said Kelly in an exclusive interview with Businesswire.com

“My experience taught me so much about the importance of emotional support and taking care of myself, and I hope that by sharing my experience, I can inspire others to take action and know their game plan.”
 
Kelly underwent surgery, but after a follow-up test, he found out the cancer had returned and he would need to receive further treatment. Finally, in August 2014, doctors gave Kelly the good news that they could no longer find evidence of cancer.
 
Your Cancer Game Plan is a collaboration between Merck, the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance (HNCA) and Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC), the leading patient organizations supporting the head and neck cancer community for nearly six decades combined, and Savor Health, a service dedicated to supporting the nutritional needs of people living with cancer.