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Source: Tom Hauck / Getty

Sad news to report just before the holiday weekend.

Ronnie Hillman, the former Broncos player who helped Denver take home a championship at Super Bowl 50, has passed away from a rare form of cancer. He was 31 years old.

News of Hillman’s passing was confirmed by a family post on social media which read, “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved son, brother & father, Ronnie K Hillman Jr.”

Hillman had recently been placed in hospice care and was battling a rare form of cancer called renal medullary carcinoma over the past several months.

“Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) is an aggressive form of non–clear cell kidney cancer that typically affects young adults and is almost exclusively associated with sickle cell trait,” as described in a report publiced by the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine.

“Typical RMC patients tend to be young black males (2:1 male to female predominance) with sickle cell trait who present with pain and hematuria and are found to have metastatic disease at diagnosis. Prognosis is extremely poor, with a mean survival of less than a year in most cases.”

Super Bowl Champ Ronnie Hillman Passes Away at 31  was originally published on theboxhouston.com