DURHAM, N.C. -- On a warm Friday in August, just four days after fall practice opened, Duke coach David Cutcliffe had to prepare yet another one of his men for heartache.

Punter Will Monday would soon learn his mother, Judy, had been hospitalized with a blood clot.

Cutcliffe arranged for team chaplain James Mitchell to drive Monday two hours back home and told Monday he should take all the time away he needed. Monday had no idea how he would ever play football again.

He walked out of Cutcliffe's office and saw roommate Lucas Patrick waiting. Monday dissolved into tears.

"I didn't know what to do," Monday recalled recently.

Patrick knew what to do. He needed to help.

Patrick went back to their apartment and packed a bag for Monday to take with him, finding the right shampoo and toothpaste, while also matching the appropriate shoes and shirts.

"You do what you have to do for people you love," Patrick said. "I tried to do whatever would be needed to make everything easier."

Former wide receiver Blair Holliday, who nearly lost his life in a Jet Ski accident, continues to be a part of the Duke football team. AP Photo/The Herald-Sun, Bernard Thomas

There would be no easy way to deal with what came next. Monday and his family soon learned Judy, 57, had cancer in her lungs that spread to her brain. They were told she would need to undergo radiation and begin taking a daily chemotherapy pill, but there was no way to completely eliminate the cancer.

Faced with a grim diagnosis, Judy was adamant about one thing: Her son had to return to Duke. That would make her happiest of all, she said.

It turns out, being back with the football team ended up being the best decision Monday could have made, because Duke players have been put in the unenviable position of helping each other through incredibly emotional, trying circumstances over the past two and a half years.

In July 2012, Duke nearly lost receiver Blair Holliday following a horrific Jet Ski accident that left him in a coma. Since then, Holliday has made a miraculous recovery. But the suffering inside the Duke football family has lingered.

Assistant coach Jim Collins lost his wife, Geri, to cancer in December 2012; former Duke quarterback Brandon Connette learned his mother needed emergency surgery for brain cancer three days after the ACC championship game last year; Monday learned about his mom, and also grieved the loss of his grandmother and uncle; and running back Shaquille Powell recently learned his 7-year-old brother, Malachi Briggs, has Stage 4 cancer.

In between the grief and loss, something else happened: Duke football became a winner.

That cannot be a coincidence.

Cutcliffe will not ever forget seeing Holliday in the hospital, tubes snaking all over his body. Doctors laid out the worst-case scenarios. "I was preparing for a funeral," Cutcliffe said.

Thankfully, his worst fears never materialized. While Holliday started to slowly improve, his accident galvanized his teammates. Linebacker David Helton, one of Holliday's best friends, decided he would spearhead an effort to raise money to help cover medical costs.

Holliday always used to tell teammates, "Every day is a holiday!" Helton created T-shirts with the phrase and sold them around campus. Why? "I wanted to do something," Helton said, echoing what Patrick said about helping Monday.

Young men, many still teenagers, started thinking outside themselves. Those bonds were reflected on the football field. Holliday provided an inspiration for teammates during the 2012 season, as Duke went to a bowl game for the first time since 1994.