A former New York Giant was back in his home town Saturday to promote his book Life on the Line and sign autographs at the Junction Bookstore.

Karl Nelson grew up in DeKalb and spent six years as an offensive lineman for the Giants. More importantly, he is a two-time survivor of cancer.

His book tells the emotional story of how he and his family battled to save his life and football career. It was co-written by Barry Stanton, a New York sports columnist.

While going through his battles, Nelson was very open with the press and his story became well publicized. Because of this, he received many letters from people who had cancer or knew someone that did. Their questions were what motivated him to write the book.

“Just giving somebody the opportunity to go on with their life is something I’ve gotten a lot of personal gratification from,” Nelson said. “Hopefully with this book we can help some of the people out there.”

Nelson graduated from DeKalb High School in the class of 1975. He moved on to attend college at Iowa State University and later was drafted by New York in 1983. His battle with cancer began August 20, 1987, the summer after helping the Giants win the Super Bowl.

It was a shoulder injury that eventually led to the diagnosis of lymphoma, more widely recognized by the name Hodgkin’s Disease. This is a disease of the lymph system and can spread to other areas of the body, therefore surgery isn’t guaranteed to remove it.

Fortunately Hodgkin’s is the most treatable form of cancer and doctors told him it was 90 percent curable. Nelson fought his battle against the disease by way of radiation treatment only to have it recur again in December of 1988.

The second battle required chemotherapy. This attacks the fast-reproducing cells such as cancer through the use of toxins. The book details how cancer works, what is involved in both treatments, how people reacted to his situation and how his family dealt with the hardships.

Nelson said good doctors and his athletic background contributed to his overcoming of the disease.

“With sports you’re always fighting through adversity, there’s always something going on,” Nelson said. “I just took the same attitude toward this fight as I would any other fight.”

He has remained healthy now since a CAT scan on July 28, 1989 showed his second battle was over. He now works as a Giants broadcaster for WNEW Radio, has a full-time position at an insurance and financial services company and does 20 to 30 motivational speeches a year.

“Hopefully by reading the book people can get some answers and know some of the things to ask about cancer and know what to expect from their doctors,” Nelson said.

His advice is to stay positive because even though they are not yet all the way there, doctors have come a long way in treating cancer.

“Don’t say ‘why me,'” Nelson said. “Those two words can kill you because as soon as you say them you start feeling sorry for yourself.”