Pat's Andruzzi on His Personal Journey from NFL to Cancer - #BIF2017 Summit Speaker Series

Pat's Andruzzi on His Personal Journey from NFL to Cancer - #BIF2017 Summit Speaker Series

Former New England Patriot Joe Andruzzi talked about his journey as a football player - and being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and starting a foundation that has helped thousands of families to date, on GoLocal LIVE on Thursday. 

Andruzzi will be appearing at the this year's BIF Summit - #BIF2017. The annual story telling meeting will be held at Trinity Rep. on September 13-14, 2017. Inc. magazine ranks the BIF Summit as the #2 business meeting in America.

An undrafted free agent picked up by the Packers, Andruzzi was released and then snapped up by the New England Patriots in 2000 where he went on to play 5 seasons and earned 3 Super Bowl rings.

Andruzzi's Personal Story

In 2001, Andruzzi met CJ Buckley, a young man with an inoperable brain tumor. His passing inspired him and his wife Jen to launch the CJ Buckley Brain Cancer Research Fund at Boston Children's Hospital.

Andruzzi's football career ended in 2007 when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkins Burkitt's lymphoma. 

Now cancer free, he and his wife Jen founded the Joe Andruzzi Foundation in 2008 after witnessing the stress cancer can cause families first hand. 

The Foundation works to lift cancer's burden by providing financial assistance to patients and families. Since its inception, the Foundation has raised more than $11 million and assisted more than 6,500 families struggling with cancer and donated more than $750,000 to help fund pediatric brain cancer research at Boston Children's Hospital.