NIU head football coach Jerry Kill ended the speculation and questions during Tuesday’s weekly press conference by detailing his health and hospitalization, which caused him to miss a week of practice leading up to the Illinois game last weekend.

Kill confirmed his previous statements that his health issues were unrelated to his 2005 battle with kidney cancer.

“I want everyone to know, due to different reports, I am cancer free,” he said. “I do not have cancer. I’ve been in remission now for five years.”

Kill said his Sept. 3 surgery was to remove his gallbladder after suffering from gallbladder stones. Complications from surgery led to the head coach being unable to hold food or his medication down — causing him to lose 15 pounds.

“I’m on a medication, and I’ve been on medication for five, six years now,” Kill said. “That medication, when you’re not retaining that medication that you’re required to take and it gets out of your system, my body shuts down. My body shut down and when my body shut down…that’s when I collapsed or whatever you want to call it.”

After undergoing surgery on the Friday after the Iowa State game, Kill was back at NIU on Saturday to review the gameplan and was back to work on Monday, Sept. 5.

Kill coached the team on Saturday, Sept. 11 against North Dakota and was unable to hold food down during that period. He also noticed the weight loss but didn’t expect anything was seriously wrong until later that night, after the game.

“I went home and had some friends up that I actually went to college with,” Kill said. “I stayed up, visited with them, and when I went to bed I told Rebecca, before I went to bed, ‘You know, I may be in trouble here because I don’t feel right.’”

The following Sunday, Sept. 12, Kill was hospitalized at Kishwaukee Community Hospital before being transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Monday, Sept. 13 to see his personal doctor.

The team was informed of his status during its regular meeting that Sunday and approached the week prior to Illinois as if Kill was present. Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys took over head coaching duties until Kill returned to the sidelines on Saturday against the Fighting Illini. During the Illinois game, his oldest daughter, Krystal, was on the sidelines to make sure he stayed hydrated.

“I didn’t have any hesitation,” Kill said. “You just do. Why do we do it? I don’t know. That’s what we do. That’s who we are. That’s what we do. But there wasn’t a hesitation or anything like that. I knew I was going to coach. It was just when I could get out of the hospital and be able to function and do a good job.”