Patriots RB Brandon Bolden Speaks About 2018 Cancer Diagnosis For First Time

Patriots running back Brandon Bolden revealed on Thursday that he was diagnosed with epidermoid carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, in 2018. 

The football star was a 28-year-old free agent at the time, when he underwent surgery to remove the carcinoma during the offseason following New England’s Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles. Per Patriots.com, he lost function of the right side of his face but later regained facial mobility. 

Bolden went on to play all 16 games the following season for the Dolphins. 

In an Instagram post, he shared a TikTok that included a compilation of photos from during that time, starting when he was in the hospital. Bolden had not spoken about the journey publicly until Thursday. 

“I was messing with my son and my little brother about this. I actually looked in the mirror and was like, ‘I got my full face back,’” Bolden said to media, per Patriots.com. “That's what made me go through the pictures and everything else, just to show I had cancer and I did not think I was going to be able to play another down and here I am going on four years later after having surgery. I'm still working strong.”

Bolden shared that the surgery changed his perspective, saying, “I thought I was doing everything to prevent stuff like that from happening and it happened. I had surgery and that was kind of my reset. I was able to redo it and reprocess how I was doing everything in my life, and here we are, like I said going on four years of being cancer-free.”