Damon Earin is a fifth-generation citizen of Coeur d’Alene, but a piece of his heart has always belonged to the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Now, a piece of the NFL team belongs to him. 

On Thursday, Dale Nosworthy and son Kelly Nosworthy, co-owners of Nosworthy’s Hall of Fame presented Earin, a family friend since he was a youngster, with an autographed football from Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl champion.

“Keep on fighting big D” is inscribed on the football, along with Mahomes’ signature.

“Damon’s been a lifelong Kansas City fan, so obviously we had to get something from Patrick Mahomes,” said Dale Nosworthy as he pointed to the inscription.     

The 46-year-old was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in October. Earin had gone to his doctor religiously for 15 years, but it still wasn’t enough to catch the disease before it had become advanced.

Earin hopes that his story encourages people to get checked often and early. 

“What I have been working for is to get a movement of people my age or younger to start to get checked out, especially if there are signs,” he said.  

In April, Earin had a successful surgery to remove the tumor in his rectum, but the cancer had metastasized to his liver, which will result in more surgery and therapy. Earin’s team of doctors may even consider a living donor liver transplant to aid in his fight against cancer. 

Earin has adopted the slogan “Never Down, Never Out” and said it best represents his mentality while he battles the disease. 

"It’s not an easy path to go on but you can take the good out of every situation and make the best of it," he said.

Earin’s fight has made him more aware of aspects of his own life. He believes the fight has brought him closer to God and his family.  

“I’m a better dad, too; the time with my kids is amazing,” he said. "It’s been eye opening but also a blessing.”

When asked what keeps driving him, he had this to say:

“My wife and kids, and God. Also to be a voice of ‘Hey, go get checked out."'

He credits his doctors and believes he is lucky to have a team of professionals behind him. He especially thanks Dr. David Bartels and oncology nurse practitioner Amanda Wood of the Beacon Clinic for their work. 

The Nosworthys were able to use a string of connections to help arrange the football given to Earin. 

While playing football at the University of Utah, Dale was a roommate and a teammate of Rod Marinelli, who went on to become a Super Bowl-winning assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before being named head coach of the Detroit Lions and defensive coordinator for several other professional teams. 

During his career, Marinelli mentored Joe Cullen, who has served as the Kansas City defensive line coach since 2022. The long line of friendship, mentoring and sportsmanship brought to fruition the opportunity to get Earin a rare piece of memorabilia. 

Earin plans to put the signed ball in a special box and add it to his memorabilia collection. 

Earin plans to attend a Chiefs game during the upcoming season and continues to map out his future even after the unpredictable prognosis. 

While he loves football, he realizes that some things stand taller than the game. 

“Football is awesome, but family is better,” he said, “My ultimate goal is to walk my 9-year-old daughter down the aisle.”

Earin and his family are accepting donations at GoFundMe. To donate, visit gofund.me/rule.just.auto.

As of Saturday, the fund had raised $27,950 toward its goal of $30,000.