University of Minnesota football player and four-time cancer survivor Casey O’Brien, 20, is set to have ANOTHER surgery after doctors find a spot on his lung
- Minnesota football player Casey O’Brien, a four-time cancer survivor, announced that doctors will surgically remove and test a spot they detected on his lungs
- The 20-year-old O’Brien, a special teams player and the Golden Gophers’ placeholder, tweeted: ‘Ready to go 1-0 in this surgery season!’
- He added in a statement: ‘Doctors found a small spot in one of my lungs. They are not sure what it is, but they want to remove it this week so they can test it’
- O’Brien has publicly endured several series of chemotherapy and lung surgeries, as well as having his left knee replaced and rods inserted into his leg
- Last month O’Brien finally made his first collegiate appearance in a 42-7 win over Rutgers, serving as the holder on three successful extra-point attempts
- After the first kick, the entire team mobbed O’Brien on the field. Later he and Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck were seen crying in each other’s arms
Four-time cancer survivor and University of Minnesota football player Casey O’Brien announced Monday that doctors will surgically remove and test a spot they detected on his lungs.
‘Ready to go 1-0 in this surgery season!’ O’Brien wrote on Twitter with the hashtag ‘#5.’
O’Brien, a special teams player and the Golden Gophers’ placeholder, added: ‘Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. God will continue to take care of me.’
Four-time cancer survivor and University of Minnesota football player Casey O’Brien announced Monday that doctors will surgically remove and test a spot they detected on his lungs. The 20-year-old O’Brien, a special teams player and the Golden Gophers’ placeholder, tweeted: ‘Ready to go 1-0 in this surgery season!’ A Minnesota native who played quarterback in high school before his first cancer diagnosis, O’Brien has served as an emotional leader for the Golden Gophers, who play face rival Wisconsin on Saturday with a chance to advance to the Big Ten title game. O’Brien was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, when he was a freshman in high school. Since then he has had four separate bouts with cancer
O’Brien has had four separate bouts with cancer, all of which are commemorated on a towel that hangs from O’Brien’s belt, bearing a cancer ribbon and four black Xs. Last month O’Brien finally made his first collegiate appearance in the Golden Gophers’ 42-7 victory over Rutgers, serving as the holder on three successful PAT’s
O’Brien also included an attached statement with the tweet: ‘Earlier today I had my three-month scans and the doctors found a small spot in one of my lungs. They are not sure what it is, but they want to remove it this week so they can test it. I appreciate everyone’s support and prayers, and I am looking forward I returning to the field soon. I have complete trust in my team of doctors. My Oar is in the water and I will continue to Row the Boat.’
O’Brien signed the statement: ‘Let’s do this!! Case’
O’Brien has publicly endured several series of chemotherapy and lung surgeries, as well as having his left knee replaced and rods inserted into his leg.
A Minnesota native who played quarterback in high school before his first cancer diagnosis, O’Brien has served as an emotional leader for the Golden Gophers, who play face rival Wisconsin on Saturday with a chance to advance to the Big Ten title game.
O’Brien made the announcement on Monday
O’Brien was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, when he was a freshman in high school. Since then he has had four separate bouts with cancer, all of which are commemorated on a towel that hangs from O’Brien’s belt, bearing a cancer ribbon and four black Xs.
Last month O’Brien finally made his first collegiate appearance in the Golden Gophers’ 42-7 victory over Rutgers, serving as the holder on three successful PAT’s.
With that game’s outcome well in hand, Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck called O’Brien’s No. 14 to hold for the point after for the Golden Gophers’ fourth extra point of the game.
After the kick, the entire team mobbed him on the field. Later O’Brien and Fleck were seen crying in each other’s arms.
‘Everything I’ve gone through was worth it,’ O’Brien said. ‘It’s a moment I’ve been thinking about as a kid. It showed how much those guys cared about me.’
O’Brien’s parents flew in from Minnesota to witness what Fleck called ‘the most inspirational thing I’ve ever seen.’
O’Brien (No. 14) has served as an emotional leader for the Golden Gophers this season
Even fans of the rival Iowa Hawkeyes showed their support for O’Brien during a recent game
‘They said he (O’Brien) would never play,’ Fleck noted. ‘Well, he just played for a 7-0 team. That’s what Minnesota is all about. He’s a motivator and a fighter.’
O’Brien hasn’t traveled much with the team and nearly got his chance last week at home in Nebraska.
‘I was bummed that I didn’t get in,’ he said, ‘but I went to practice on Sunday and continued to work hard.’
O’Brien had nine months of chemotherapy and reconstructive knee surgery that lasted more than eight hours after his freshman year of high school. He convinced his doctors to convert from quarterback to placeholder.
‘I knew that I needed football in my life, and that had been something that had been there my whole life, and I just wasn’t ready to give it up.’
The hard work paid off.
‘I look at myself as a football player. I just show up and play,’ he said.
