Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer shares own cancer survival story after Jerry Jones' reveal

The first-year Cowboys coach opened up about surviving thyroid cancer at age 28

Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer revealed Wednesday he overcame thyroid cancer when he was 28, a disclosure coming a day after owner Jerry Jones shared his own lengthy battle with stage 4 melanoma. Schottenheimer said he's grateful Jones spoke publicly, believing such stories can inspire hope in others facing similar fights.

Jones told The Dallas Morning News this week he was diagnosed in 2010 and spent the next decade undergoing multiple treatments, including two lung surgeries and two lymph node surgeries. He credited an experimental immunotherapy drug, PD-1, for saving his life.

"I'm glad that Jerry shared it, just because I think it gives people hope," Schottenheimer said. "It gives people the strength to say 'Hey, you can beat this, you can do that.' When you have that type of diagnosis, to have that hope and that ability to think, 'Hey, I can fight through this and maybe I can catch a break and get lucky,' I think that's great."

Schottenheimer was in training camp in 2002, his first season coaching quarterbacks under his father, Marty, with the then-San Diego Chargers, when he got the news from his doctor.

"You hear that word 'cancer' and it scares the hell out of you," Schottenheimer said. "I'll never forget going to find my dad ... saying those words to him just freaked me out ... It was a very traumatic thing for me."

Schottenheimer recalled pulling his father out of a defensive meeting to share the news.

"I told him 'Hey, I have cancer,'" Schottenheimer said. "I broke down, of course. I lost it. He said 'Hey, we'll figure this out and we'll get you the best help we can get.' And he picked up the phone and called Dan Snyder, a guy that [a year] before had fired him..."

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According to Schottenheimer, Snyder -- who had also battled thyroid cancer -- called back and within a day and a half he was on an operating table in Rochester, Minnesota. Doctors removed his thyroid and 17 lymph nodes.

"I'm not joking, I was terrified of the fact that I might lose my ability to speak because of my love for coaching," Schottenheimer said. "And I was one of the lucky ones. I look at the scar ... and I'm reminded how lucky I am."