Like many celebrities before them, a new roster of sports heroes are sharing their cancer journeys to educate the public and raise awareness.

 

In his memoir, Heartbeats, legendary Swedish tennis player Björn Borg, 69, shared that in 2023 he was diagnosed with an “extremely aggressive” prostate cancer and is now in remission after an operation. “Now I have a new opponent in cancer—one I can’t control,” he wrote. “I fight like every day is a Wimbledon final. And those usually go pretty well, don’t they?”

 

Stateside on the gridiron, Denver Broncos Coach Zack Grossi found a winning team at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, where he underwent treatment for a yolk sac tumor, a rare cancer that affects germ cells and starts in the chest. After chemo and the removal of 15% of his right lung, Grossi is now cancer-free.

 

Similarly, in the Netflix documentary series America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, iconic Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, 82, revealed that in 2010 he was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma, a skin cancer, and that an immunotherapy clinical trial saved his life. “You don’t like to think about your mortality, but I was so fortunate to have some great people that sent me in the right direction,” Jones told the Dallas News. “I got to be part of a trial that was propitious. It really worked.”