Kansas City Chiefs Safety Eric Berry Has Hodgkin's Lymphoma

The masses found on Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry a few weeks ago have been confirmed as Hogdkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, according to the Kansas City Star.

Berry had been receiving treatment at Emory University in Atlanta since the initial testing. He will undergo chemotherapy in an attempt to eradicate the disease, which is one of the more treatable and curable forms.

A little context from the Kansas City Star:

Lymphoma is a group of cancers of a part of the immune system called the lymph system. The cancers fall into two main types, Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. According to cancer.org, the five-year survival rate for patients with non-Hodgkin's is 90 percent for those in stage one and two, 80 percent for stage three and 65 percent for stage four. It is unclear what stage Berry's form of cancer is in.

Berry issued a statement, reprinted by USA Today:

My family and I are very grateful for the amount of support we have received over the last couple of weeks. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate all the words of encouragement, the blessings and well wishes. I want to thank the Emory University School of Medicine, along with Dr. Flowers and his team, for all of their hard work and effort in diagnosing and creating a plan for me to battle this thing. I will embrace this process and attack it the same way I do everything else in life. God has more than prepared me for it. For everyone sharing similar struggles, I'm praying for you and keep fighting!

Other athletes that have been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma are former Pittsburgh Penguins scorer and NHL great Mario Lemieux, in 1993, and Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, in 2008.

Lemieux missed two months of that NHL season before returning to complete a Hall of Fame career. Rizzo was diagnosed with the disease as a member of the Boston Red Sox. He was cured by chemotherapy and made his first All-Star game in 2014 for the Cubs.

Recent NFL players to fight cancer include Houston Texans offensive tackle David Quessenberry and New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich.

#AZCardinals HC @BruceArians is #BerryStrong. #KCvsAZ pic.twitter.com/HLnEIxOg8u

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) December 7, 2014