Dylan Horton was living his dream as a 23-year-old rookie defensive end for the Houston Texans when a call last October changed his life forever.
“I remember getting the call,” Horton told “Good Morning America” in an interview with ABC News’ Will Reeve, which aired on Monday. “I’m trying to understand everything the information he was saying and I wanted to make sure my parents were on the call, too. … So we all took the information in and at the same time together.”
That call informed Horton he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma, the most advanced stage of a type of cancer that forms in the lymphatic system, part of the immune system that helps protect the body from disease and infection, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The news was devastating, but Horton’s faith gave him strength.
“I feel like [it] was a lot of emotions initially,” he said. “I feel like it was a common fear just to be kind of nervous. But I just know that, God’s on my side, he’s not going to bring me to a situation where he doesn’t think I’m prepared to handle.”
Horton, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound powerhouse, had started noticing symptoms like night sweats, fatigue and weight loss. After the diagnosis, his focus shifted from football to survival.
“My first goal was just getting back healthy,” he explained. “And then understanding that I worked hard just to get to the NFL. It’s going to be hard to stay in the NFL regardless of what I was going through. And so now I’m going through this.”
That challenge included bi-weekly chemotherapy treatments through a port, but Horton says his support system made all the difference.
His parents made regular five-hour drives from their home in Frisco, Texas, to be by his side.
His brother, who lived in Chicago, visited whenever he could. Horton credits his family’s unwavering support with helping him through the grueling process.
“They know I love them,” Horton said. “It was a long situation, but I felt like we stuck it out, you know?”
