Broncos LB Alex Singleton on his testicular cancer discovery - ESPN

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — «Cancer… the word still freaks me out a little bit,» Denver Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton said. «And then you hear it… and your mind just goes.»

On Monday, Nov. 3, Singleton and his wife, Sam, listened intently as a doctor explained that Alex almost certainly had testicular cancer. The cancer was discovered when a random NFL drug test flagged an abnormally high level of a hormone (hCG) in Singleton's sample.

The ensuing surgery was scheduled four days later on Nov. 7. Scenarios unfolded: worst cases, best cases, the forks in all the roads that might be on the horizon as they hoped the cancer hadn't spread to other parts of the body.

«You do hear the word cancer, it is shocking, so shocking,» Sam Singleton said. "… You go from not even thinking about something like that, living and working and everything in your day, and then you're listening to [doctors] tell you about cancer."

Alex Singleton is in his fourth season with the Broncos. And for the 15th time this season, he will line up at his customary middle linebacker spot on the Denver defense on Christmas night against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video).

Singleton leads the Broncos — who continue to chase the AFC's No. 1 seed — with 124 tackles. If that holds, it will be the third time he has led them in the category in the past four seasons. But he now does it as a member of a club he never imagined he would be in. Singleton is now a cancer survivor, part of a legion who know the shock, anger, fear and lingering emotions from the moment the word is spoken.

«Sounds weird, maybe, but I see my daughter laughing, sit and talk with my wife, and there is a little more, a different, like texture to it,» Singleton