Australian NFL defensive tackle Jesse Williams will undergo surgery this week after being diagnosed with kidney cancer.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said the 24-year-old Williams has had a hard couple of weeks after doctors detected papillary type two cancer.
Williams has vowed to beat the cancer and return to the football field.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from Jesse," Carroll said, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
"He's a battler all the way. He's been up against it, too.
"He's fought some difficult fights and he's fighting another one - maybe the fight of a young man's life - so we'll be there with him and hope to pull him through."
The Brisbane-raised 191cm tall, 148kg giant had multiple knee surgeries that kept him out the past two seasons and was aiming to finally make his mark in the NFL in the coming 2015/16 season, but then was hit by the cancer diagnosis.
After a stellar two years at the University of Alabama, the Seahawks drafted Williams in the fifth round in 2013 and he signed a four-year $US2.371 million ($A3.07 million) contract.
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