How Being An NFL Player May Have Saved a Denver Bronco’s Life

Being a player for the Denver Broncos can have its ups and downs: winning seasons (with fans all over Colorado,) losing seasons (with fans booing,) games being played in the freezing cold, games played in beautiful sunshine. For one particular Bronco, one "up and down" situation could have saved his life.

Many kids, growing up, dream of being a football payer: hitting the gridiron, making big plays, helping their team to win the Super Bowl, making a lot of money, and having adoring fans. Not many kids make it all the way into the NFL, but for Denver linebacker Alex Singleton, being a success at playing football got him a job in the NFL, which comes with rules; those rules are what lead to him getting a very early cancer diagnosis.

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You can imagine an NFL player, going in for a routine "drugs" screening and being told that they found a banned substance, when you know you didn't take it, can make you pretty upset. The league takes these things seriously, and getting "busted" for a a banned substance can lead to suspension and fines. This test, however, lead to him finding out that he had testicular cancer. I would have been both angry and relieved.

Singleton's test, according to ESPN, showed elevated hCG, a Performance Enhancing Substance, used to boost testosterone. Singleton went to a urologist, and after several tests, they determined that he had cancerous tumor on one of his testicles. It would seem Singleton wasn't having any symptoms, so this random test caught something very serious, very early.

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Being a determined player, Singleton insisted on playing one more game before having the surgery. It's really hard to say, that if he wasn't an NFL player, how fare the cancer may have progresses, putting his life at increased risk.