In July, Christian Barmore received some very scary news. 

The defensive tackle was diagnosed with blood clots, sidelining him indefinitely. And there was a time he wasn't sure if a return this season was even possible. 

"First they said I was probably going to miss the year, and that hurt," Barmore told reporters on Sunday, but went on to describe his reaction when he was officially cleared. "When they said that news, I was really excited, I was anxious, I couldn't go to sleep because I was excited."

This was the first time Barmore spoke publicly about the blood clots, and he really opened up about what he's been going through these last couple of months.

"The blood clots are not a joke because I had real bad shortness of breath and it messed with me a lot," Barmore said. "I told myself I was not going to lose that battle, so I told myself I was going to keep fighting, keep going."

But because of this, he learned a very important lesson.

"Never take anything for granted. I could have lost my life. My doctor told me that," he revealed. "I got closer with God. Just saying, 'why is this happening to me.' But God makes no mistakes and it feels like God brings his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers. So, I'm a solider, and I just told myself I'm not going to let this beat me."

Barmore returned to practice for the first time on Thursday, being listed as a limited participant. But on Friday, he was not out there with the team. Yet, the team still thought he was ready to go and activated him. 

So how did he feel after his first game back? 

"Felt good. Still trying to get in game shape, but I felt good," Barmore said. "Really just keep grinding and just keep doing extra work. Stuff is out of my lungs now, thank God, and everything, so just keep on grinding. But I feel really good."

Having gone through this, Barmore has a new outlook on a lot of things. So he had a clear message to anyone else going through a hard time. 

"Never give up. Don't quit," he simply said. 

Barmore also took a moment to credit that organization because they supported him throughout this whole ordeal. 

However, there was one person in particular who he leaned on because they had been in his shoes before.

"That man, (David Andrews), is a legend. He kept my head up. Every time I needed to talk to him, every time I had my head down, he came up me and wanted to talk to me. And especially from his story, he just motivated me really well to keep going even strong. Just keep fighting and just keep going, just don't stop. Just ignore the noise. Just keep working by myself and make myself a better man." 

Barmore is officially back.