LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A University of Louisville football coach has spent a lifetime shaping young athletes. Mike Cassity has coached football at 18 universities and has served as a defensive coordinator at nine of them.

“The game of football has taught me a lot. As you play, you win games and you lose games, but you don’t give up,” Cassity said.

For over a decade, he’s had to apply that mental strength and resilience to his toughest opponent yet: cancer.

While he wears Cardinal red now, his battle started back in 2012 when he was coaching at the University of Kentucky.

“He said, ‘You have multiple myeloma .’ I didn’t know what that was,” Cassity said. “I said, ‘Doc, what is that?’ He said, ‘It’s incurable bone marrow cancer.’ The room started spinning. I was trying to hold on to a table

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