It's Kelly and Reed once more: Kelly wouldn't miss Andre Reed Hall of Fame ...

There is a lot in front of Jim Kelly, a lot the former Buffalo Bills great has to help him push past the nasty cancer that has weakened his body, but not his resolve.

One of those things in right in front of him today: Andre Reed's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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'I'm sure it was part of the motivation for Jim,' Kelly's wife, Jill, told the Buffalo News. 'Certainly, he's motivated by his faith, his girls and his family, the things he holds very close to him. But every time Andre went to visit Jim, they talked about that.'

Reed was a frequent bedside visitor for Kelly as he fought the return of the disease earlier this year. So, it's no surprise that Kelly would push through whatever he had to in order to watch Reed put on the gold jacket and gaze at his Hall of Fame bust.

Reed, the Bills all-time leading receiver, will be enshrined on Saturday, along with six others. Reed and Kelly were teammates on the field, and have been teammates in life.

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'He's pushing it,' Jill said. 'Don't get me wrong. It's not as if he's all better and good to go. There's still looming tests in August, the not knowing if treatments worked, the fact that he's still on a feeding tube.

'His life is still in that place of uncertainty, not knowing really what's going to happen with all of this. So he's still beat down; he's still tired, he still gets sick quite a bit. But he would not miss this for the world.'

On his eighth try, Reed joins Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, James Lofton, Joe DeLamielleure, Billy Shaw, O.J. Simpson, Marv Levy and late owner Ralph Wilson as Bills in the Hall.

'This is bigger than me,' Reed told newsandtalking.blogspot.com. 'We all know what's going on with the team all that stuff. This is like a breath of fresh air. I'm glad I'm at the forefront of this, because there's something to be happy about.'

Reed was drafted 86th overall in 1985 out of Division II Kutztown State. He went on to become a seven-time Pro Bowler.

'I was young and raw,' Reed said. 'I came from humble beginnings. I'm not saying nobody else did, but I had to be better than everybody else to get that eye looking at me.'

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