Erin Kelly - Kelly Tough: Live Courageously by Faith

When you play in the NFL, youre part of a bigger family. Thats what Jim Kelly and his children are: family! Im thankful to have had the opportunity to see firsthand the relationship that Jim and Erin have. This book is about that and so much more. Reading this will encourage you and hopefully as a result will strengthen the relationships you have with the people you love most.

DAN MARINO, NFL Hall of Fame, Special Advisor to CEO and President of Miami Dolphins

I have known the Kelly Family for many years and have witnessed what it looks like to be Kelly Tough on and off the football field. However, what I have learned through watching Jim and his daughter Erin during Jims cancer fight far eclipses the best of the best. This book is an account of what it takes to live with courage in the midst of some of lifes most difficult circumstances. Well done, Erin! Your NFL family is proud of you.

BILL POLIAN, 2015 NFL Hall of Fame Enshrinee and ESPN NFL Analyst

The expression Kelly Tough has become like a brand unto itself. And no one epitomizes that more than 19-year-old Erin Kelly, the firstborn child of Jim and Jill Kelly. Beautiful like her mother and feisty like her father, Erin writes eloquently and intimately about faith, family and football, a clich expression for so many but one that she embraces with all the gusto of a Jim Kelly fist pump. Ive always believed that if you want to truly learn about people look at how their kids turn out. Erin Kelly is a Hall of Fame daughter and sister and her stories and insights will touch and inspire you.

ANDREA KREMER, multi-award-winning journalist

Kelly Tough is a beautiful, true, imperfect love story. Its a study in toughness made of more than sheer grit, but the inner kind that turns regular people into warriors. With raw honesty, the Kellys have taken their trademark family strength and turned it into a paperback jewel of hard-earned wisdom for the reader. Ive cheered and cried and learned with every page. This book will move people. It has moved me.

LISA WHITTLE, speaker, author of {w}hole and I Want God

We have watched Erin Kelly grow from a beautiful, caring, young girl to a soldier. This young woman became a soldier while wearing her Kelly Tough armor. She fought bravely when her father was weak and in great pain while battling cancer. Wouldnt we all be so blessed to have a daughter who would abandon the frivolity and innocence of youth to crawl through the trenches, to go all-in and battle for us? Erin did this while simultaneously keeping the faithnot only keeping it, but growing in it. How beautiful is that? Kelly Tough is a read for everyone, everywhere, and at anytime. You will turn over the last page of this book feeling deeply inspired and armed to battle for the people you love most.

NFL Hall of Famer THURMAN THOMAS and PATTI THOMAS

Becoming friends with the Kelly family over the last few years has been a true inspiration, not only to the two of us, but to the entire faculty, staff, and student body of Liberty University. We are proud that Erin Kelly, the older daughter of Jim and Jill Kelly, chose to attend this university. We have watched her mature into an articulate young lady who has demonstrated to so many others how to courageously face lifes trials and tribulations with faith, dignity, and optimism. Jim and Jill exhibit these same traits and I believe their storyas told by Erinwill give you strength for your own lifes journey, no matter how difficult your circumstances might be.

JERRY FALWELL (president of Liberty University) and MRS. BECKI FALWELL

From that first week as friends at a high school football campall the way through being teammates for nine years with the Buffalo Billsand from a continuing close friendship after our football days Every step of the way I can tell you that two things come to mind when I think about Jim: family and toughness. At every stage of his life this is his story, his mark in life. Thats why it is no surprise that Kelly Tough is the perfect family slogan/motto/vision for the entire Kelly family. This book, written by Jims firstborn daughter, Erin, is an inspiring family legacy that gives flesh and blood to what Kelly Tough is all about. Through reading this book, you will be blessed by the faithfulness of God and encouraged to see His hand at work in your life.

FRANK REICH, offensive coordinator, San Diego Chargers and former NFL quarterback

Kelly Tough became a household phrase in the last year as many in America watched and supported Jim Kelly during his second battle with cancer. Now in the book, Kelly Tough, readers will be encouraged to find that this kind of toughness isnt just a Kelly thing, but a way of life for all of us. Weve known Jim for years. Hes tough, determined, and stout-hearted. But to know his daughter and read about her courage in action as she stepped up to care for her dad, thats something admirable that we might all aspire to emulate. Yet, as youll discover when you read this book, its not about the Kellys at all but about finding strength and courage in the midst of lifes trials. Well done!

MIKE GREENBERG and MIKE GOLIC from Mike & Mike on ESPN

Kelly Tough

Live Courageously by Faith

Copyright 2015 Erin Kelly and Jill Kelly

Published by BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

www.broadstreetpublishing.com

ISBN: 978-1-4245-5018-0 (print)

ISBN: 978-1-4245-5019-7 (e-book)

Authors are represented by The Burson Agency, Nashville, Tennessee.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless noted, all Scripture is from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Chris Garborg at www.garborgdesign.com.

Typesetting and interior by Katherine Lloyd at www.TheDESKonline.com.

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Printed in the United States of America

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This book is dedicated to the two toughest people I know. To the boy who never spoke a word but demonstrated strength beyond comprehension: Hunter Boy. You will forever be my hero. I miss you more than words can say. To my daddy: I love you so much and want you to know that your struggle was not wasted. As I watched you in the midst of your battle, I witnessed strength displayed in and through your life like never beforeGods strength. I will never forget what it means to be Kelly Tough!

E rin Kelly and her mom, Jill, certainly picked a strange person to write the foreword for an inspirational book out of the head of an inspirational young person. I have spent all of ninety minutes in Erins company. Usually, there is some great and close professional or personal relationship that leads to someone writing the foreword for a book. But when the Kelly family reached out to ask me to do this, it took me two seconds to think about it and blurt out, Of course Ill do it!

Im a pretty big believer in first impressions. In my twenty-five years at Sports Illustrated