Raiders Q&A: Getting to know cancer survivor Brandon Bolden

Brandon Bolden is a running back for the Raiders, a husband and father of four, an 11-year NFL veteran, a special teams standout — and a cancer survivor.

In 2018, the 33-year-old was diagnosed with mucoepidermoid carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that develops in the salivary glands and can spread elsewhere. He subsequently underwent surgery and made a full recovery, continuing to play football and working as an ambassador for the American Cancer Society.

Bolden spoke with the Review-Journal about his diagnosis, recovery and the importance of cancer awareness.

RJ: Five years since the diagnosis, right? How are you feeling?

Bolden: I feel great. It’s counter from how I feel from when I got the news until now. A million times better.

RJ: How did you find out something was wrong?

Bolden: Actually, the game of football. I took a hit that I’ve had 1,000 times. This time, it hurt. Lingered a little too long. Went to the training room. Kind of discovered what the cause was. Went and got a biopsy.

RJ: How do you process everything when you hear that diagnosis?

Bolden: My process went kind of quick. Immediately, I was like, “Oh, wow, you’ve got cancer.” So it went to every movie I’ve ever seen where a character had cancer that doesn’t end well. Discussing it with my family, with my wife, talking to her, she’s my rock. She’s going to get me through anything. So she kind of put my mind on the right way how to go about it. And here we are.

RJ: How was surgery, and what were the side effects?

Bolden: Yeah. So went and had surgery. They originally framed it as surgery is going to be a couple hours, and you’ll be in and out. So we went in at six in the morning, and when I woke up, it was like, eight at night. And my wife, she was pissed. She was like, they said it was going to be this and that, and it was a nine-hour surgery. But woke up. Pretty much slept those next couple days, and by the fourth day I was able to get out of bed and walk around. That’s when I found out I had no function on the right side of my face. Eyelid was stuck open. Couldn’t move anything. No smiling.

RJ: What’s the recovery from that? You’re smiling now, right? How did you come back from that?

Bolden (laughing): Pretty much it was just will and determination. A little time doing a couple facial exercises here and there. When it originally started, I had to get a titanium weight in my eyelid just to help me sleep because that was the worst part about it. You can’t sleep with your eye open. Once we got all that kind of squared away, it was just kind of slowly getting back into anything.

And even with that, me not having no function on the side of my face, my wife and my kids, they didn’t treat me any different. “It’s half a smile, but it’s the greatest half-smile we’ve ever seen.” So with that support system, it’s kind of easy.

RJ: What kind of perspective did that whole experience give you about football? And about life?

Bolden: Oh, man. You’ve got to enjoy the little things. The small walks to checking the mail and the kids want to come out with me. The guys getting together and want to go watch a movie and get the wives together and everything else. Those little moments become that much bigger because of how my mind was when I first got the diagnosis. I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy those little moments. I’m going to try to take advantage of every little moment I do get.

RJ: Eleven years now in the NFL. What’s the key to longevity?

Bolden: Understanding the business and life aspect of just being in football. Having the great support system with the wife and kids. My family has been a big part of why I keep playing. And learning to take care of myself and having great teammates to learn from.

RJ: What does it mean for you to see the league take initiative with cancer awareness?

Bolden: It’s big. When I first came in, it was kind of a big thing because of a lot of family members. There wasn’t as many players when I first came into the league. Now it’s affecting players as well. For (the league) to be able to step forward and say, “We want to be the engine driving this project going forward,” that’s big.

RJ: What do you like to do when you’re not playing football?

Bolden: I don’t have many hobbies. I’ve got four kids. So being a dad is pretty much what I’m doing. I play football, and I’m a dad. Love every second. Other than that, I’m out talking to people about making sure they go get scanned for cancer and stuff like that. I went to a few colleges this past offseason, talked to a couple kids about professional life. Especially with mental health awareness. … We all have bad situations, and we all have to go through things. It was a sit-down-and-talk, so I got to hear their stories as well. I’m trying to do more of that as we go moving forward.

RJ: Is that going to be part of life after football?

Bolden: Yeah. Go out and start talking and stuff like that. Working on maybe getting a podcast. We’ll wait and see.

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.