Andy Hoffman, the father of Nebraska Cornhuskers fan and brain cancer patient Jack Hoffman, died Monday at his home in Atkinson, Nebraska. He was 42 years old.
The Team Jack Foundation announced his death.
Andy Hoffman, a lawyer, spent the last decade of his life raising more than $ 8 million for Team Jack, a fundraising player to end pediatric brain cancer, only to succumb to brain cancer. His diagnosis in July 2020 seemed unattainable, that two people from the same family could have brain cancer; that Andy, who ran marathons and worked non-stop, had Glioblastoma multiforme, a rare and very aggressive cancer, with a survival rate of about a year.
“This is such a horrible disease,” his wife, Bri, wrote in a Facebook post last week. “Even though Andy’s diagnosis was seven months ago, we still deny that this happens.”
Hoffman sought second and third opinion and met from twice to arrive at the Mayo Clinic early last fall. He had two missions: to raise as much money as he could for Team Jack and to spend all the seconds he had with Bri, Jack and their daughters, Ava and Reese.
They went to field meetings and basketball games and on a hunting trip. Andy, an avid Nebraska football fan who put Jack in a Cornhuskers shirt when he was little, was able to watch his son play his freshman football season at Atkinson West Holt High. Jack is now 15 years old and is part of a clinical trial that has prevented his tumor from growing. He is a line man, just like his father in high school.
When Andy Hoffman’s condition worsened, Jack would return home from school and help care for his father. In early February 2021, Andy contracted COVID-19 and, according to Bri’s Facebook post, “quickly obtained a fusion of monoclonal antibodies and did very well. He recovered and had no symptoms in his head. of the day 5 “. But an MRI that was done shortly after recovering from COVID-19 revealed that her cancer had spread and Andy’s health was rapidly declining.
The family’s battle with cancer began in 2011, when Jack was diagnosed with cancerous glioma at age 5. The Hoffmans were initially told that most of the tumor the size of Jack’s golf ball could not be removed, but Andy, after a thorough investigation, found a doctor in Boston, who was able to ‘extract more than 90% of the tumor.
Before Jack’s surgery, Andy arrived in Nebraska hoping Jack could meet his favorite player, runner Rex Burkhead. Andy didn’t expect to hear anything again, but Burkhead, now with the New England Patriots, was forced to find them for lunch. He took them on a tour of Lincoln Memorial Stadium and called them the Friday before Jack’s surgery to offer support.
When the Huskers were tracking Ohio State that weekend, Burkhead decided to try to fire some of his teammates by mentioning the guy he had just met.
“Hey, Jack wouldn’t give up,” he told them, “why should we?”
Burkhead got the win from Nebraska, getting the winning touchdown. He developed a friendship with the Hoffman family, and a year and a half later, the Nebraska coaching staff came up with the idea of putting Jack in the April 2013 spring game.
The nervous boy with the swinging helmet ran for a 69-yard touchdown in front of 60,000 fans while Andy cheered him on from the sidelines. No one knew the moment would catch fire, that the YouTube video of the race would generate nearly 9 million views, and that Jack would win an ESPY award and visit President Barack Obama.
Andy Hoffman seized the opportunity to put Jack’s team in the spotlight. He desperately wanted a cure for pediatric brain cancer so other parents wouldn’t have to go through what he and Bri did. I wanted to tell his story. One of his 2020 New Year’s resolutions was to finally write a book; he struggled at night while his family slept and sent the manuscript in the middle of summer.
A few weeks later, he suffered a seizure during a rupture on Sunday, which led to the trip to the hospital and the discovery of white mass in the brain.
But he always tried to stay optimistic. Throughout the fall and winter, he signed copies of his book, “Yards After Contact.” I wanted it to be a best-seller.
At the end of an interview with ESPN late last year, while at the Mayo Clinic, Hoffman was asked if he had anything to add. When his son was sick, he could research doctors and raise money for cancer research. He could comfort his son and his young daughters.
He paused for a second, uncertain about a future over which he had no control.
“That will sound a little silly,” she said as she began to cry, “but I love my wife and children more than anything in the world.”