My name is Casey O'Brien, and I'm a walk-on placeholder at the University of Minnesota. I am also a four-time cancer survivor. Today I want to talk to you about being thankful.

Now odds are nobody in this room outside of my parents, my teammates and Coach Fleck has ever heard of me or really knows anything about my story. In fact, many of you may be wondering why I'm up here speaking today. But here I am, standing in front of you with the opportunity to represent every player in the Big Ten -- somebody must like what I'm doing, but we'll get to my story later. When I found out that I was going to have this opportunity, I went to the internet to watch past kickoff luncheon speeches. The first one that I wanted to see was from former golfer and childhood hero of mine, Eric Decker. Eric may not remember this, but he was one of the first people to call me after I received the bad news. It was a quick phone call, but I'll never forget the words that he ended our talk with. He said ‘stay strong and never give up -- you have the whole world behind you.’ It reminded me that even the simplest words can be the most encouraging for these words, and for that phone call I'm very thankful.

As I scroll through videos from previous years, I began to watch other great players from this conference give their speeches. I watched Denard Robinson talk about his family and about praying to his brother who had passed away before every one of his games. I watched Joshua Perry talk about the influence that Big Ten football players have and about how are more than just athletes. I watched David Blough talk about the lessons that football teaches and about how they extend far beyond the field. I watched Kirk Cousins talk about what a privilege it is to play in the Big Ten.

I watched every speech that I could find, but it was Kirk Cousins speech that stuck with me the most. I guess I'm not alone as over 500,000 people have watched it as well. Mr. Cousins now plays quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, and on a whim, I asked if he'd be willing to speak with me about his memories from being at this podium. He immediately said yes. That is a kind of person that he is, and that is the kind of brotherhood that we as players share in the Big Ten. When I got the chance to speak with him, I wanted to pick his brain about how he prepared for this speech. I wanted to know what kind of notes he used, how many times he practiced, and if he was nervous. I even asked him what do you have for breakfast that morning -- it was bacon and eggs if you were wondering. He gave me all that information and more, but the best advice he gave me was to be myself and to be authentic, and that's what I'm going to do today.

This is my story, and this is what I'm thankful for. Six years ago, I was a freshman quarterback at Cretin-Derham Hall High School. I was 13-years old and had big dreams. There was only one problem I had: a pain in my left knee that would not seem to go away. My parents took me to

see many different doctors and specialists but no one could figure out what was wrong and why it wasn’t getting any better. My dad who was coaching for the Gopher football team at the time took me in to see the team doctors as a last resort. It was on that day, December 14th of 2013, that (the team doctors) found something the other doctors could not.

By noon on that Saturday, just a week before Christmas, I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an extremely rare form of bone cancer. Osteosarcoma is an unforgiving aggressive disease that attacks the young and rarely looks back.

It would be hard for me not to mention that this is the same cancer that took one of the lives of our game's greatest fans last year in Purdue student Tyler Trent. But this was not before he inspired our conference and our nation and reminded us why college football is so special. I like to think that Tyler and I would have gotten along well, and I think about him and his courage often. Undoubtedly, osteosarcoma is the same cancer that inflicts kids at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. These are the same kids who are waving back to us players at every home game. From someone who has spent countless nights in the hospital, I can't begin to tell you what that means to those kids and their families growing up.

My entire life had revolved around sports. I was always going from one practice to the next. Now at 13 years old, I was told that I needed a full knee replacement and nine months of chemotherapy. This meant that I had to give up all the sports that I had known and loved and that my football career was now over -- or so they thought.

After 18 rounds of chemotherapy, an eight and a half hour and knee and bone replacement surgery, and close to 90 nights in the hospital, I was finally back to being cancer-free at the start of my sophomore year of high school. I couldn't wait to put this all behind me and enjoy being a regular kid again. Unfortunately, God had other plans for me.

Six months later, my cancer had relapsed for the first time. It had come back and in both of my lungs. This was not a good situation. Full lung surgeries, seven more months of chemotherapy so intense that I had to spend the entire following week recovering in the hospital, and another school year being bald were to follow. This was devastating news for me, but the circumstances that I was placed in were not going to dictate my life or my behavior. I wanted to play football again, and I was not going to take no for an answer.

So after a complete left knee replacement, which included metal rods into my femur and tibia -- please do not ask me about going through airport security -- and while still receiving chemotherapy treatment, I convinced my doctors to let me move from quarterback to placeholder in my junior year of high school. I made my return to playing varsity football in our season-opening game. I held every extra point in a win and checked into the hospital for a week of chemotherapy the following morning. I had no hair and was down to 130 pounds, but I was back on the football field. My mom could barely step foot in the stadium to me, but I was back out there with my teammates doing what I loved and helping our team win games. To the other teams, I was just another kid that could get hit on a bad snap, and that is exactly the way that I wanted it to be.

My cancer has come back two more times since entering college. Once again, I would not let this stop me. I took chemo pills before every spring practice in my first spring ball at Minnesota and did not miss a practice. I spent all of last season wearing a specially made shirt with a pad sewn into it to protect the port in my chest where I was still getting treatment -- did not miss a practice this spring ball. Now cancer-free, I competed for a starting job.

Without football, I would not have noticed the pain in my left knee. When I did, I may not have found out that I had cancer. I would not be standing here today, and I would not be living my dream of playing college football in the Big Ten. I would not have some of my greatest memories and some of my best friends. I would not have gotten through some of the darkest days sitting in those hospital rooms. For all of these reasons, I'm very thankful I'm thankful.

For my teammates, there's something special about being part of a team. I know that I have 120 brothers who have my back no matter where I'm at. No one has supported me or looked up to me more than the guys in our locker room. Teammates are the ones who will still be there when the cameras are not. Three of my teammates are here today in Tyler Johnson, Carter Coughlin, and Mohamed Ibrahim, and they each have quite the story as well. Tyler, Carter, Mo, and to all my brothers back home: it’s my honor to be your teammate.

I'm thankful for my coaches, especially for Coach Fleck. Coach Fleck did not have to give me the chance to walk on, but he did, and for that, I will be forever grateful. Minnesota is the only school that called me, and the only school that would give me a chance to play. Growing up less than 15 minutes from the stadium, this was a dream come true for me. Coach Fleck and his culture have taught me a lot about life, football, and everything in between. He is the first person that I call after my three months scans, and good or bad, he always seems to have the right thing to say. I'm proud to call him my coach, my role model, and my friend.

I'm thankful for the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital. That hospital is amazing. When I was first diagnosed with cancer, we looked across the entire country for second opinions and where I could get the best care. Everyone pointed us back to Masonic, which we later learned is one of the best in the world. My doctors Dr. Brenda Weigel, Jill Lee, and Denis Clohisy have had an unbelievable plan ready for every relapse and adversity that I have faced. For these three and for the entire staff at the Masonic Children's Hospital, I'm very thankful. I'm also over one-year cancer-free.

I go back to Masonic a few times a year for scans and checkups, but now it is more often that I find myself in those hallways to visit patients. When I was a patient, I didn't really have anyone to look up to. I didn't know anyone my age who had beaten cancer, and this was hard for me. I think it is important for me to go back and to let them know that it is possible and that they still have their lives and sports careers ahead of them. I wear six bracelets on my right wrist. Each one is for a different boy or girl who I have met in the hospital. Some of them are so worn down that you can't even read the name, but I know who they are and who they stand for.

It is not easy for me to say this, but not every name on my wrist has walked out of a hospital like I have. We need to continue to improve the way that we treat and fight cancer.

I would like to repeat what my role model Eric Decker once told me: to all those back watching at the hospital right now, stay strong and never give up. You have the whole world behind you.

Lastly, I am thankful for my family. I can only imagine how hard it has been for my parents to hear that one of their sons has been diagnosed with cancer, not once but four times. The same can be said for my brother and sister, who have had to watch their little brother go through surgery after surgery. We have spent more than 200 nights at the Masonic Children's Hospital together. I can say ‘we’ because every night my mom, dad, brother, and sister was there with me, sleeping on a small couch against the wall. It could not have been comfortable, but they made sure that I never felt alone. It comes as no surprise that my mom and dad drove six hours to watch me speak today. I like for my mom and dad to stand if they could.

I'm thankful for every day that we get to spend together as a family -- the good ones and the bad ones -- because I now know that tomorrow is not promised. All the tests, scans, bloodwork loss of hair, chemotherapy, and everything else that comes along with fighting cancer has all been worth it. We have beaten it four times, and I'm now playing college football in the Big Ten. Mom, Dad, Brittany, and Shaymus I love you guys.

I want to thank you all again for the opportunity to speak today. It has been a tremendous honor and a moment that I will never forget.

Good luck to everyone this season, and go Gophers. Thank you.