Kelly has final surgery
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The wife of Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback and East Brady native Jim Kelly says her husband has undergone what is hoped to be his last cancer-related surgery.
On Instagram Wednesday, Jill Kelly posted a picture of the former football player giving a thumbs-up sign from a hospital bed in New York City. Her comment said “all went as planned!”
In an earlier post, Jill Kelly said doctors told the couple it should be the 58-year-old’s last surgery.
Kelly last underwent surgery in March when doctors at Mount Sinai Health System removed cancer from is upper jaw and lymph nodes and reconstructed his upper jaw.
A portion of Kelly’s jaw was removed in 2013 after Kelly was first diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma.
Kelly starred at East Brady in multiple sports, but it was football that carried him to the University of Miami to play quarterback for the Hurricanes.
He helped that school become known as “Quarterback U.”
Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1983 — a draft that also featured Hall-of-Famers John Elway and Dan Marino — Kelly decided to spurn the Bills in favor of the Houston Gamblers and the upstart USFL.
When that league folded, Kelly joined the Bills and led the franchise to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances, all defeats.
Kelly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
Kelly was first declared cancer-free in 2016.
But earlier this year, the cancer had again returned and he underwent more surgeries to remove the cancer and reconstruct his upper jaw.
He has been cancer-free since March.
