When the Chiefs placed safety Eric Berry on the non-football illness list last month, they said he was headed to Atlanta for more consultations with doctors about a mass in his chest that was thought to be a sign of lymphoma.
Physicians at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University have completed their testing and confirmed that initial fear. Berry has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.
“This is a diagnosis that is very treatable and potentially curable with standard chemotherapy approaches. The goal of Mr. Berry’s treatment is to cure his lymphoma and we are beginning that treatment now,” Dr. Christopher R. Flowers, director of the Emory Lymphoma Program, said in a statement released by the Chiefs.
Berry also released a statement through the team.
“My family and I are very grateful for the amount of support we have received over the last couple of weeks. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate all the words of encouragement, the blessings and well wishes. I want to thank the Emory University School of Medicine, along with Dr. Flowers and his team, for all of their hard work and effort in diagnosing and creating a plan for me to battle this thing. I will embrace this process and attack it the same way I do everything else in life. God has more than prepared me for it. For everyone sharing similar struggles, I’m praying for you and keep fighting!”
The Chiefs are selling t-shirts that read “Be Bold Be Brave Be Berry” at Arrowhead Stadium and on the team’s website with 100 percent of the proceeds earmarked for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help fight the disease that Berry is now fighting. The $20 shirt sounds like a pretty good holiday gift for any football fan in your life, whether or not they root for the Chiefs.
Everyone at PFT sends Berry the best of wishes as he embarks on this battle.