A 60-year-old former businessman has shocked locals by joining a Division III college football team after overcoming stage four cancer. Tom Green admits he was 'dying' but eventually overcame stage four kidney cancer three years after being diagnosed in 2015.
Green enrolled in college for the first time after receiving the all-clear and made the bold decision to try out for the football team at McDaniel College in Maryland during his freshman year. In an interview with ABC 4, Green revealed he had eight tumors in his body, located from his skull to his pancreas.
'I was 60 pounds less, I was sweating like crazy at nighttime, and my blood was being eaten by the tumors. That was my life. I thought it was the end,' he said. 'I was so far gone. My sixth rib was eaten through, my eighth rib was eaten through, I felt like a frickin' walking accordion.'
Miraculously, Green was declared cancer-free in 2018 and decided to apply to college for the first time in his life. Having played for semi-professional teams when he was younger before launching his pallet business in Pennsylvania, Green decided to try out for the football team.
Green, who turns 61 next month, is now expected to make his debut on the defensive line when the new college football season begins. If he manages to play when he is 62, Green will become the oldest person ever to play college football.
He revealed that his teammates battle-tested him at first with some brutal blows during practice, but they eventually welcomed him with open arms. '[Football] never leaves you. And the one thing that I always tell everybody is, the camaraderie of it all, you miss it,' Green added. 'I've had employees, and I've had people work for me, and so on and so forth, but when you're playing ball, it's a lot different atmosphere. It's one of those things that I think the Lord has led me to and God's blessed me to do it.'
