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It was Nolan Cooney's passion for sports that motivated him most when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs during his junior year of high school.

The New Orleans Saints' rookie punter was a three-sport standout at East Greenwich High in Rhode Island. He said he wasn't scared when he got the diagnosis and trusted his doctors, but the only information he researched was stories of athletes like cyclist Lance Armstrong and third baseman Mike Lowell, both of whom successfully underwent treatment for testicular cancer. Cooney was thrilled when he got the chance to speak with Armstrong on the phone, and when New England Patriots cancer survivor Joe Andruzzi came to visit and let him wear his Super Bowl rings.

And sure enough, Cooney reached his goal of returning to the basketball court in time for the playoffs -- just days after he finished his two months of chemotherapy treatments. The scene was triumphant, with the crowd chanting his name in the stands.



"We didn't have to lift his spirits," Cooney's parents, Joseph and Janice, agreed while discussing the positive outlook their son has maintained. "Our spirits were lifted by him."

But nobody in the family ever dreamed that Cooney might become a NFL punter seven years later, signing with the Saints as an undrafted rookie out of Syracuse.

Because, well, Cooney had never punted before.