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Jim Kelly’s football camp was already on the schedule. So he wasn’t going to let something as minor as surgery keep him away from it.

Three days after his latest procedure which was part of his cancer treatment, the Hall of Fame quarterback was playing flag football at his annual camp.

“This is my life,” Kelly said, via Jack Goods of the Buffalo News. “This is why I do it. If you don’t love it doing it for 31 years, then something is wrong with you. My heart is in it.”

Kelly spent part of his time in a golf cart, but was able to participate with campers at New Era Field.

Last week, he had a follow-up surgery to put five implants in his jaw to help reconstruct the area taken away because of cancer. Her said he’d have two more procedures in August and September to help rebuild his mouth and put permanent dentures in.

“I knew I’d be here, but I didn’t know how much I would participate,” he said. “The only part for me [that’s hard] to do a lot of is talking. My upper jaw is completely covered in stitches. But I’ve been hit after games and I was a lot sorer. It’s all good. . . . It seems like every year I’m sore three or four times for a period of time. It is what it is. I just keep fighting, and hopefully one day I’ll be able to walk out of my front door and feel good.

“I’ve got a lot of things on my plate that I want to do and I can’t do them when I’m in this state. But I’m going to keep working. The Good Lord is the only one who knows what the outcome is going to be for what I’m about to do, for what I’m about to go through. I still have a few more surgeries to come, and I take it one day at a time.”

Kelly’s next appearance is scheduled for mid-July, when he’ll receive the Jimmy V award at the ESPYs in Los Angeles.