After a journey that took him from chemotherapy to the Pro Bowl, Chiefs safety Eric Berry has been named the NFL’s comeback player of the year.
Berry, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 but made the Pro Bowl in 2015, received the comeback player award at tonight’s NFL Honors event in San Francisco.
The comeback player of the year honor, which was first awarded in 1963, has usually gone to a player coming back from an injury suffered on the field the previous season. But Berry is an even more inspirational choice than most, having come back from a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis that ended his 2014 season. Despite undergoing chemotherapy in the offseason, Berry played all 16 games for the Chiefs in 2015, and played very well.
Upon receiving the award tonight, Berry thanked the medical professionals who helped nurse him back to health, and encouraged his fans to follow their dreams, as he’s continuing to follow his.