In a story that stretches far beyond the football field, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has unknowingly played a life-saving role in the fight against cancer - and it’s a moment that’s resonating deeply within the Cowboys organization.
Tad Carper, the Cowboys’ Senior Vice President of Communications since 2022, was diagnosed with Stage 2 throat cancer last year. Today, he’s in full remission.
The tumor was caught early, removed through surgery in October, and followed by two months of radiation treatment. Doctors now say the chances of the cancer returning are low.
But according to Carper, none of that might have happened without a small but powerful gesture from Prescott.
The connection between the two isn’t just professional - it’s personal. Prescott, whose mother Peggy passed away from colon cancer in 2013, has long been an advocate for early detection and cancer awareness.
In 2017, he launched the “Faith. Fight.
Finish.” Foundation, a tribute to his mother’s legacy and a vehicle to support cancer research and mental health initiatives.
That mission would end up doing more than raise awareness - it would save a life.
At a foundation gala in the spring of 2024, then-head coach Mike McCarthy learned more about the importance of early cancer screenings. Inspired, he approached Prescott with the idea of incorporating screenings into the Cowboys’ annual physicals for coaches. Prescott, understanding the stakes all too well, didn’t hesitate.
“We got into training camp and he said, ‘Hey let’s get all the coaches tested.’ And I said, ‘Say less,’” Prescott recalled in an interview. “Obviously understanding what I’ve been through with losing my mom to cancer and understanding how important early screening is, it was a no-brainer.”
That decision rippled through the organization. With a few open slots left during one of the screenings, Prescott extended an invitation to Carper - someone who’s often by his side in the building. It was a casual ask, not something anyone expected to have major consequences.
“It’s 7 a.m. one morning, and what else am I doing? I said, ‘Sure, that’d be great.
Thanks,’” Carper recalled. “I walked in, got tested.
Super simple. Walked out and never thought about it again.”
Two weeks later, everything changed.
Carper was at Cowboys headquarters when he got a phone call that stopped him in his tracks: the test had come back positive for head or neck cancer.
“The rest of the day after that call was a bit surreal. Everything slowed down,” he said.
The diagnosis hit hard, but the timing made all the difference. Doctors told Carper that if he had waited even two more months, the conversation would have been very different.
That early detection - born from a simple invitation - gave him a fighting chance. And when he told Prescott the news, the quarterback was right there with the kind of steady reassurance that defines great leaders.
“Before I could get another word out of my mouth, we hugged it out and his first response was, ‘We got it. I know we got it,’” Carper said. “I told him, ‘I think you just saved my life.’”
For Carper, the moment felt like more than coincidence.
“God’s plan for me to come to Texas. God’s plan for me to work for the Cowboys with Dak Prescott leading to that moment.
And that’s what happened,” he said. “There’s a lot of elements involved in getting to that moment, and being in that place, and having that opportunity.”
Prescott, never one to seek the spotlight for his off-field impact, was humbled by the weight of it all.
“I don’t know if it’s something I could ever really put into words,” he said. “I know how many people aren’t fortunate of that, [so] to just play a part in it is more than enough.”
In a sport where we often measure greatness by touchdowns and trophies, this story is a powerful reminder: sometimes the most important victories happen far from the gridiron. For Dak Prescott and Tad Carper, this was one of them.