How God Used Tragedy to Save Hall of Fame QB: ‘I Thank God Every Day’

Published: April 28, 2025

american-3561339_1280 — Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

By Mallory Mattingly

For Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, being mad at God was a daily experience — until Jesus transformed his life.

During his time in the NFL, Kelly lost four Super Bowls, but those defeats don’t even compare to his four battles with cancer and the death of his 8-year-old son in 2005.

“I even got to a point, it would drive me crazy, I said to my wife, ‘If being a Christian is being like you, I don’t want to be one.’ I was mad at God. I was like, ‘Man, you put me through all this? I can’t handle this,'” Kelly admitted on the “Grace Begins” podcast.

In 2005, Kelly lost his son to globoid-cell leukodystrophy (Krabbe Disease), “a rare, inherited condition that affects the myelin that covers and protects your nerve cells, causing neurological issues. It gets worse over time and usually results in death,” the Cleveland Clinic reported.

During that time, Kelly was still working as a football analyst and was “away from home a lot.”

“To be honest with you, it was a tough part of my life, not only for me, but for me and my wife. It was a struggle. We weren’t getting along…Me and my wife lost interest in each other,” the former athlete revealed.

Kelly admitted he was unfaithful to his wife.

“Unfortunately, it got to a point where my mother-in-law confronted me and said, ‘If you don’t change your life, you’re going to lose everything.’ And she was right. I manned up, I said, ‘I’m gonna lose everything.’ So, I changed my life…I totally admitted everything,” he continued.

Despite all the challenges and life struggles thrown at Kelly, he now knows it was all for his good.

“I know why He put me through all that — to test my faith and if I’m ever going to give up on Him. And there’s no way,” Kelly declared. “He’s the reason I’m still here, but my wife, my daughters, and the life I live now, I thank God every day for it.”

Kelly ended the podcast with a bit of advice for those who wants to help others to Jesus.

“If you want to change someone’s life, don’t throw it on them. They’ll come around on their time,” he said. “If you keep throwing it and forcing them into it, you’re gonna scare them away. That’s what happened to me early on, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. I took it slow, my wife did such a great job, she knew when to talk to me about it and when not to. She slowly brought me into it, and here I am now.”

Kelly often posts about his late son, Hunter, on his social media.

“The older I get, the closer I am to seeing you again, HUNTER,” Kelly wrote in a post on Valentine’s Day. “I love you so much, buddy. I will always be thankful to share a birthday with you. I miss you so much son. See you again in heaven.”