Former Patriots lineman Andruzzi battles 'aggressive' form of cancer

BOSTON -- 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.

Joe Andruzzi was a key member of three Super Bowl title teams with the Patriots. (Getty Images)

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 $7,500 in pledges as of Thursday.

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