From Cancer Survivor to Advocate for Hope

For several months, Joey Kelly shrugged off bouts of pain until he could barely breathe one October evening in 2023.

“I was in my girlfriend’s dorm room, and it felt like I was having a heart attack and going to pass out,” Kelly says. “I was rushed to the hospital, where scans showed a large tumor in my chest cavity and significant bleeding within my left lung. Then a biopsy confirmed that I had mesenchymal chondrosarcoma.”

The diagnosis was devastating for the then 18-year-old, who was in his first year as a student and soccer player at Bryant University.

“My life flashed before my eyes,” he says.

After going through 42 days of radiation, major surgery and 14 rounds of chemotherapy over the span of nine months, Kelly is cancer-free. Three years later, Kelly is now aiming to guide others through their journeys with the disease.

The Lincoln native, a biotechnology major and soccer player at RIC, created his own nonprofit called Prevail2Day. Its mission is to support anyone affected by cancer, especially those navigating mental health challenges and survivorship. The goal is to create a community where people can connect, share their experiences, and feel understood.

“When I was in treatment, I kept thinking about what I was going to do today in order to see tomorrow and spend another day with my dad, mom and my brother,” Kelly says. “How would I prevail today? And that’s how I came up with the name for the nonprofit. It clicked immediately.”

Kelly says Prevail2Day is becoming exactly what he envisioned after establishing it in March 2025.

"I want to be the hope that I wanted and needed when I was sick," he says. "I want to show people that there can be a positive side after cancer and light after treatment. They can still prevail through all the hardships and side effects and continue living a life that’s bigger than what cancer tries to define in our lives."

For Kelly, after a cancer-free prognosis he was able to continue playing soccer, a sport he’s been passionate about since he was a five-year-old boy.

“One of the first questions I asked during my cancer treatment was would I be able to play soccer again?” Kelly recalls. “A doctor in Boston told me, ‘If you believe you can, you will’ play soccer. That answer gave me the strength and willpower to pour all of myself into treatment and recovery.”

Kelly, who plays the center midfield position on the RIC soccer team, says teammates have been understanding and supportive about his cancer journey.

“They talk to me with an open perspective, wanting to understand what cancer is like and how they can be a better teammate and friend,” he says. “That means the world to me.”

RIC Soccer Coach Kyle Froberg says he treats Kelly like every other player.

“He’s been through some tough times, as we all know, but there’s no sign of it through his work rate and energy,” Froberg says. “He has great ability as a soccer player and raises the level of everyone around him with his encouraging, calm and professional attitude.”

Froberg adds that he admires the work Kelly is doing through his nonprofit.

“It’s unbelievable to see what he’s doing for children with cancer,” he says. “I’ve spent time with Joey when he was around a child currently going through treatment and the knowledge and experiences he shared with the child and family was enormous.”

Through Prevail2Day, Kelly organized the Prevail Cup in August, a soccer competition that brought 12 teams together to raise $8,500 for the Tomorrow Fund, a Providence nonprofit that provides daily financial and emotional support to children with cancer and their families. Kelly credits the Tomorrow Fund with saving his life.

“The caliber of work Joey did to put the Prevail Cup event together was pretty amazing,” says Lisa Hainse, executive director of the Tomorrow Fund. “As someone who has been through the ordeal of cancer, he came at this from a different perspective and was very passionate about wanting to give back and pay it forward to others.”

In his biotechnology courses at RIC, Kelly is learning to combine the technologies of nanoscience and human genetics to create more effective cancer therapies. His goal is to pursue a career as an oncologist for children with cancer.

“There are so many unique and profound ideas arising in the cancer field that I wish could get pushed to the forefront quicker,” Kelly says. “But these things take time due to precaution, regulation and testing.”

Meanwhile, Kelly intends to keep advocating for the plight of people fighting cancer every day.

“My main message is that cancer shouldn’t define a person’s past or their future,” he says. “That was a huge thing for me during and after my treatment. It was hard to believe there was better to come and a future where I would feel comfortable being myself and I’m still working on that.”