Joe Andruzzi Battles "Aggressive" Form Of Cancer

[Joemailman]

I always liked Andruzzi because he was a tough guy who got the most out of his ability. Hopefully that toughness will help him get through this situation.

Former Patriot guard Andruzzi battles 'aggressive' form of cancer

1 minute ago

BOSTON (AP) — Former New England Patriots guard Joe Andruzzi battled some of the toughest, meanest and nastiest defensive lineman in a 10-year NFL career.

None came close to the aggressive but treatable form of cancer he is fighting now.

Andruzzi, a member of the Patriots' three Super Bowl championship teams during his five years with the club, was diagnosed in May with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - cancer of the cells of the lymphatic system - and has returned to the Boston area for treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The 32-year-old sounds tired and subdued in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, but he is drawing strength from his family, his friends in football and from other professional athletes who have fought and conquered cancer.

"I'm still not feeling too great, just trying to take it one day at a time," Andruzzi said. "The treatment is really taking it out of me. It's a real aggressive cancer so I am getting real aggressive chemo treatment."

Fighting is nothing new to the native of Staten Island, N.Y. He was an undrafted free agent out of Division II Southern Connecticut State, and probably shouldn't have lasted through his first NFL training camp. Instead, he carved out a decade-long career with the Green Bay Packers, Patriots and Cleveland Browns, who released him just before he was diagnosed.

He was the anchor of an offensive line that protected Tom Brady, starting 76 consecutive regular-season games at one point.

But what Patriots fans perhaps remember most vividly about Andruzzi was his emotional news conference the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 6-foot-3, 312-pound linemen almost broke down a number of times as he recounted the terrifying hours after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers when he didn't know if his three New York City firefighter brothers were alive. One brother, Jim, had been one of the first firefighters on the scene.

His brothers survived, and days later Andruzzi ran onto the field at old Foxboro Stadium holding a pair of American flags high in the air prior to a game against the New York Jets.

"9/11 was a big time in their lives, and they had to fight, and now I have to fight through this with them at my side," Andruzzi said.

Also at his side has been his wife, Jennifer, who is raising money for Dana-Farber at this Sunday's Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk.

The walk is the only other sanctioned event on the marathon's route. Jennifer Andruzzi and her Live, Laugh, Love team had raised more than US$7,500 in pledges as of Thursday.

"Compared to everything that Joe has gone through, this walk for me is nothing," she said.

Giving back is nothing new for the Andruzzis, who have four children. While with the Patriots, Joe befriended C.J. Buckley, a teenage cancer patient. When C.J. died, Joe established a trust in his name to benefit children's brain cancer research. He was a regular at holiday turkey giveaways and charity golf tournaments, and even sponsored a motorcycle ride to benefit the Cam Neely Foundation.

"It's always been in our hearts to give back," Jennifer said.

Returning to Massachusetts has brought the Andruzzis closer to their family in New York, but it also has brought them back to the Patriots family. Joe said he has received calls from owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and others.

"I still have some friends on the offensive line, they come by and talk to me," Joe said. "The guys in the training room call me, the front office guys, everybody pretty much calls."

Running back Kevin Faulk gets updates through his wife, who is in e-mail contact with Jennifer Andruzzi.

"You pray and you believe that he will (beat the cancer)," Faulk said. "You never know what can happen, but in the long run that's what you want to happen, that he beats the thing. He's a strong guy."

If Andruzzi fights cancer the way he plays football, he'll pull through, Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "He left everything out there on the field each week, and then he came back and battled again the next week," said Crennel, who was the Patriots' defensive coordinator when Andruzzi was with the team.

"So I know that in this fight he's giving everything he has. He's strong-minded and strong-willed and he'll fight it as long as he needs to."

The Andruzzis also are inspired by the survival stories of other professional athletes, including the Boston Bruins' Phil Kessel, as well as Jon Lester and Mike Lowell of the Boston Red Sox. Jennifer Andruzzi has read seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's books about his battle with testicular cancer.

Those athletes have overcome the disease to excel in their careers. Joe Andruzzi has much more modest goals.

"Joe right now is just trying to get better," his wife said. "He wants to be able to go run around with his kids outside. ... He wants the energy and stamina to get through a day without being exhausted."

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[Rastak]

Man, what a bummer. I wish him the best.

[GrnBay007]

The two words, cancer and aggressive, is something everyone cringes at. I watched my brother....a big, strong, larger than life type of guy whittle down to nothing from this horrible, horrible disease (cancer) in less than a year.

I wish him well.

[hoosier]

His chances of beating it are probably pretty good, 70% or better. Better odds than getting lung cancer or a brain tumor.

[Rastak]

His chances of beating it are probably pretty good, 70% or better. Better odds than getting lung cancer or a brain tumor.


My coworker just died of a brain tumor weeks after diagnosis.

[HarveyWallbangers]

That sucks. Andruzzi was a street FA that fought his way to being a Super Bowl starter.

[Joemailman]

I have a very lucky sister-in-law. She was having dizzy spells, and was not responding to the medication. They decided to do x-rays ( not sure of the actual term), and discovered a brain tumor. She is doing fine although she will probably not be returning to her teaching job this year. They do not believe the dizzy spells were caused by the tumor, so if it hadn't been for the dizzy spells, they might not have discovered the tumor until much later.

[Rastak]

I have a very lucky sister-in-law. She was having dizzy spells, and was not responding to the medication. They decided to do x-rays ( not sure of the actual term), and discovered a brain tumor. She is doing fine although she will probably not be returning to her teaching job this year. They do not believe the dizzy spells were caused by the tumor, so if it hadn't been for the dizzy spells, they might not have discovered the tumor until much later.


That's great that they found it. Find it early == much better chance.

[hoosier]

His chances of beating it are probably pretty good, 70% or better. Better odds than getting lung cancer or a brain tumor.


My coworker just died of a brain tumor weeks after diagnosis.

That's horrible. No time to let it sink in, no time to say goodbye to loved ones, just boom. In a way it seems better than suffering a long and hopeless battle, but still hard to fathom what his/her family must be feeling.

[oregonpackfan]

In December of '93, one of my third grade students was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was given just 4 weeks to live.

At the time, I taught a second grade/third grade blend classroom. I had had this boy as a studentfor all of second grade and half of third grade.

Carl was one of the brightest students in math that I ever had. As a second grader, he was able to calulate percentage! He was well like by everyone and already was a promising soccer player.

The doctors' dismal prognosis was correct. Just 4 weeks after his diagnosis, he died on January 4, 1994. :cry:

I still think about him at least once a week. If he were alive, he would be 22. With his math skills, would be be completing his engineering or accounting degree?

I was never the same teacher after that loss...

[Rastak]

His chances of beating it are probably pretty good, 70% or better. Better odds than getting lung cancer or a brain tumor.


My coworker just died of a brain tumor weeks after diagnosis.

That's horrible. No time to let it sink in, no time to say goodbye to loved ones, just boom. In a way it seems better than suffering a long and hopeless battle, but still hard to fathom what his/her family must be feeling.


His, I think he was in his forties....very sad.

[Rastak]

In December of '93, one of my third grade students was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was given just 4 weeks to live.

At the time, I taught a second grade/third grade blend classroom. I had had this boy as a studentfor all of second grade and half of third grade.

Carl was one of the brightest students in math that I ever had. As a second grader, he was able to calulate percentage! He was well like by everyone and already was a promising soccer player.

The doctors' dismal prognosis was correct. Just 4 weeks after his diagnosis, he died on January 4, 1994. :cry:

I still think about him at least once a week. If he were alive, he would be 22. With his math skills, would be be completing his engineering or accounting degree?

I was never the same teacher after that loss...


Damn that's awful. To pick things up a bit, I've had several co-workers fight cancer (I have 17 years with the company) a 29 yo ( I think he was at the time, just a few years ago) coworker was diagnosed with a really nasty form of cancer. I forget the name, it's a skin cancer that if it get's into the rest of your body it kills you. He was advanced when diagnosed and the doc gave him a 20% chance to live, from what I was told. I even mentioned it to my own doctor while he was fighting it, and when I said the name which escapes me she said in a deadpan voice..."oh, I'm very sorry to hear that", clearly thinking he was done. Believe it or not, he survived. He moved on to a new job a few months ago but was healthy when he left the company.

[Badgerinmaine]

In December of '93, one of my third grade students was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was given just 4 weeks to live.

At the time, I taught a second grade/third grade blend classroom. I had had this boy as a studentfor all of second grade and half of third grade.

Carl was one of the brightest students in math that I ever had. As a second grader, he was able to calulate percentage! He was well like by everyone and already was a promising soccer player.

The doctors' dismal prognosis was correct. Just 4 weeks after his diagnosis, he died on January 4, 1994. :cry:

I still think about him at least once a week. If he were alive, he would be 22. With his math skills, would be be completing his engineering or accounting degree?

I was never the same teacher after that loss...

Wow. That's a very powerful and sad story. :cry:

I'm a teacher, too, and I can relate at least a little to what you're saying. A few years ago, a young student of mine at the college where I teach died on the Christmas break of her freshman year. She skidded on an icy, dangerous road near her hometown in rural north central Maine and was killed instantly when her car wrapped itself around a telephone pole. I drove up there for her funeral, and it was painful to behold. The young people she knew were just stunned, staring into space--but even more powerful was the pervasive sense from everyone there of how her economically depressed town had been counting on such big things from her that would never come true. She was a beautiful, enthusiastic young woman with a great sense of humor who wanted to be a schoolteacher, and I think she'd have been a super one. I promised myself I'd keep her obit. outside my office until she would have graduated, and I did.

Back to Joe Andruzzi--I can't add to anything the others have said except to say that I hope that he's able to prevail against this opponent, too.