ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Alex Singleton is playing football again less than three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous testicular tumor that he feared would spell the end of his NFL career.
Denver's leading tackler aims to play at Washington (3-8) this weekend when the Broncos (9-2) try to extend their eight-game winning streak.
“We're tracking that way,” the 31-year-old linebacker said about 24 hours after going on "Good Morning America”
to talk about his diagnosis and the need for early detection for a disease that affects about one in 250 American men.
Singleton was notified Oct. 27, one day after he had 11 tackles and forced a fumble in a win over the Cowboys, that a random NFL-mandated drug test had revealed elevated levels of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin, indicating either the injection of a performance-enhancing drug or testicular cancer.
After a 10-tackle performance against the Texans, he underwent an ultrasound that confirmed he had cancer.
Surgery was scheduled for a day after the Broncos game against the Raiders when Singleton had nine stops in Denver’s 10-7 win on a Thursday night.
He informed the team of his cancer diagnosis three days after his surgery.
“He just got up in the team meeting and said, ‘I’ve got cancer,’” teammate Malcolm Roach said. “We’re like, ‘What? You’ve got cancer? You were just on the field with us Thursday night.’ He told us that he just had surgery and everything went good. He said, ‘I’m gonna be back after the bye week.’ We were like, ‘OK.’ Man, he really was back after the bye week.”
Singleton only missed one game, against Kansas City prior to the Broncos’ bye last week. But he was heavily involved in the preparation for the Chiefs and huddled that week with his replacement, Justin Strnad, and the other linebackers.
“I just love these guys,” Singleton said. “I love this team and this organization, and I love this game. So if it was my last game, what I want to do when I’m done is coach anyway, so let’s start now. … All you want is to see your guys shine.”
The surgery and the pathology reports that followed have painted a clearer picture for Singleton's recovery prognosis, which is excellent, but leading up to the Raiders game, doubts crept in about his football future.
“The one thing I wanted to do was play that game,” Singleton said. “Because if it was (his last game), I wanted to go out on my own terms.”
Successful surgery and good news from the pathology reports had Singleton shifting his focus back to football and a quick return to the field, which came at practice on Wednesday.
“Yeah, I’m still processing the fact that I had it at all much less just being back practicing,” Singleton said, calling cancer “a huge word. It’s a scary word. I don’t even like saying it all the time because it freaks me out. But yeah, hopefully it’s behind me.”
Singleton will continue to undergo frequent testing to make sure the cancer is gone and didn’t spread.
He said the support he’s received from his teammates and fans who direct message him — he can’t respond to all of them — has been “the best thing ever.” He experienced something similar last year when he sustained a season-ending ACL injury.
“And I thought that was great, but obviously this, just cancer in general, is a scary word," Singleton said. “So, yeah, just the support and love, you learn they don’t only care about football. They care about you as a person and it meant a lot to me.”
Singleton figures his first tackle against the Commanders could be an emotional moment.
“I cried after the ACL, so this one might be a little harder,” Singleton said. "Yeah, it'll be crazy. I just think so much goes into it and I've obviously talked to doctors about everything from chemotherapy, if it spreads, fertility, kids, stuff that has nothing to do with football, just being able to live. All the scans and tests have been good and positive but yeah, those things are still there.
"So, football is kind of that place between the white lines you can let it all go. But there was definitely a time and a place where that wasn't even part of the conversation yet. To have that it's going to be special. The ACL, you come back from that, everyone comes back from that but there's not a lot of cancer research on coming back and playing football.”
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