Linda was at the end of a long day that she didn't want to go through when she met a couple of Broncos players.

Fighting lung cancer, she had a mix of chemotherapy drugs awaiting her after radiation therapy at 8 a.m., and she was dreading another day of it. Since she started her second round of chemotherapy, the drugs have made her feel at times like a different person. Six months ago, she'd been out hiking. Then she began chemo again and watched her body and her habits change — beginning a process of getting sicker to hopefully feel better.

The hours of treatment on Tuesday — particularly the chemotherapy's drugs — make her weary and rob her of her usual vibrancy, or at least it nearly does.

"I've got a really strong cocktail — but it's not a good cocktail, you know what I mean?" Linda jokes. "I want a cocktail!"

To perk up, she planned on taking a nap, but when she finds out Justin Simmons and Keishawn Beirria are coming through the infusion clinic, she changes her plans and no longer finds herself in need of any extra energy.

The players swing in around the curtain, and she jumps to her feet, trying to get untethered from oxygen tubes to give them a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! How often do I get to hug a Bronco?" she exclaims.

"What a good-looking man!" she says to Bierria. "Best chemo of my life!"

Linda's mother, Millie, doesn't seem to be as big of a Broncos fan as her daughter, but she may become one just because of the visit.

"We're so lucky to have people like you in our lives," Millie says. "… Don't ever stop. Be kind all the time."

Linda, a Broncos fan since she moved to Denver and began watching the Three Amigos, exudes an energy and excitement meeting Bierria and Simmons that showed just how much these hospital visits can mean.

"I got excited and so my adrenaline started pumping, and that's good stuff going through me," Linda says. "Instead of just sitting here going, 'Oh, woe is me! Where's my blanket?' and you get pitiful. This is like true medicine. It means a lot. It means more than they even know.

"… They're sweet. The kindness, you can just see that from them. It's nice. The more positive you get, the more you're going to get well."

An hour later, after the Broncos left the clinic, Bierria smiles at the memory of meeting Linda and the warmth she and her mother showed him and Simmons.