“Man, if my fingernail hurts, I’m almost ready to go to the doctor now,” said Williams, who has been in remission since January. “And it’s like we’re as men, not just coaches, but as men — and sometimes women too, as well — we try to tough things out. No, when something is bothering you health-wise, especially as you get up in age, it’s important that you take a look at it.”

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There’s not an official Comeback Coach of the Year award, but if one existed, Williams would be the favorite. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly after coaching in the 2025 season-opener against the Raiders, forcing him to relinquish his defensive coordinator duties to current coordinator Zak Kuhr.

Williams had missed time in the spring with a health issue and felt worn down during training camp, even fainting. Tell-tale signs in hindsight. But on this September night he was vomiting. The bathroom kept calling. Sleep flitted like a bee beyond his reach. But he’s a football coach.

“I didn’t say anything to anyone because I wanted to coach in the game and not be a distraction or anything like that,” Williams recalled. “I remember sitting in my chair before the game started, before I went out for warmups, thinking if this wasn’t a regular-season game, there’s no way I would be able to go out here and do this. But I did, and we lost the game.

“The next day, [Patriots coach Mike Vrabel] came into my office and was like, ‘Hey, how you feeling?’ And I told him, ‘Man, not good,’ and so I went to the hospital.”

After initially thinking lymphoma, doctors found prostate cancer had spread to his collarbone, hips, groin, and legs. What followed was hormone therapy — prostate cancer feeds on testosterone — and chemotherapy. He endured six rounds of chemo, three weeks apart, at Massachusetts General Hospital. He had his personal team, wife Tifini and son Tahj, and the Patriots team, which donned “T-Strong” gear, behind him.

Before that, prostate cancer wasn’t on his radar. It wasn’t on this writer’s radar either before being diagnosed.

“Not at all,” said the 52-year-old Williams. “I wish I would have known when I got it and been able to tackle it earlier.”

That’s why PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing is vital, especially for Black men. According to True North, a global prostate cancer awareness program funded by the Movember men’s health charity, one in eight men and one in six Black men will get prostate cancer.

True North recommends that men start the screening conversation between ages 40-45 if they have a family history of prostate cancer or Black ancestry, advising that “prostate cancer also tends to develop at a younger age and grow faster in Black men than in any other group.”

Defensive tackle Milton Williams, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, said Terrell Williams’s diagnosis was “a gut punch.” But said he’s back to being the “same old T.”

That’s a victory. Sometimes last season, just serving as Fort Foxborough’s appointed delivery guy for takeaway gifts presented to players who registered turnovers was a Herculean task.

“Sometimes I would take the Uber to Gillette, drop off the gifts, and come back home and get back in the bed or get on the couch and try to rest,” said Williams, who has been an NFL assistant coach since 2012, including six seasons on Vrabel’s Titans staff.

Williams often considers how fortunate he is to be in this medical mecca. He’s also grateful to be on a caring staff, led by Vrabel, where his co-workers, many of whom he worked with in Tennessee, are friends.

“I tell people all the time, I don’t know if I would have been able to make it through without the guys that I work with, without this particular staff and with the head coach in particular because he was so understanding and so supportive,” said Williams.

“Take the football away from it, we’re all really good friends … and so now in my role, I’m just here really to help those guys game plan and do whatever it is that Vrabes needs me to do.”

Players feel his impact, regardless of title.

“He’s still letting us know about certain things, about scouting and everything, certain players and prepping,” said cornerback Marcus Jones. “So, he’s doing the same thing [he did before as defensive coordinator] when it comes down to it.”

Williams’s PSA, more than 600 when he was diagnosed, has plummeted down to “zero-point something.” Still, the disease remains in the back of his mind.

“I feel good, like I feel normal. There’s no limitations,” said Williams. “I’m working, but always in the back of my head, it’s like, OK, is this thing going to come back?”

But what matters is that he’s back and sharing his message to help others.

Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.