Watching Bernie Kosar battle through dementia, Parkinson’s, and a liver transplant, and coming out the other side full of color and life, is easily one of the most feel-good stories we have come across in a while. But for the legendary Cleveland Browns quarterback to come on the Sage Steele Podcast and talk about his ordeal, a family paid the highest price of all. That’s something the 62-year-old hasn’t been able to shake off.

In July 2024, Bernie Kosar sat for an interview with Cleveland Magazine and revealed the diagnosis that shook his world – cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson’s disease. He found his name on the transplant list in the Spring that same year, but things weren’t going to break his way anytime soon. Last year, in the weeks leading up to his surgery, he had about seven procedures to stop severe internal bleeding while he digested the news that his first donor’s organ was infected and couldn’t save him.

Around the time Bernie was ready to give up hope, Bryce Dunlap, a 21-year-old Browns fan, had suffered an anoxic brain injury. As he was holding on to life on a ventilator, Bryce’s parents were told their son wouldn’t survive. It was then that young Bryce decided to donate his organs, and his parents, faced with an impossible choice, respected their son’s wishes. Bernie Kosar didn’t know at the time that Bryce would go on to save his life with a liver donation, and that’s the story he shared with Sage Steele.

“I was tempered in my hope that it was going to happen,” Kosar said on the podcast. “So, I didn’t get nervous this time because the first two times that I thought it] was going to happen, it didn’t materialize. So I was more nervous, hoping, am I going to do it? But then they said no, I was going to get discharged, and all of a sudden they started re-IVing me. And not to be too specific, but regular IVs, when you’re going to get ready for these types of surgeries, don’t go. So you got to get them into your arteries. So putting them in your arteries and into your neck, which is not fun when you’re awake for those.

“But they started doing that, and that meant to me I wasn’t getting discharged, that there was hope. But they didn’t tell me because they didn’t want to get my hopes up for it. But then I started hearing some stories of the Dunlap family, and the kind of emotion of hearing about a 21-year-old young man. I didn’t even piece it together because that was on the news and stuff for that. So to be able to kind of start seeing that, and then thinking that’s probably for what they’re waiting for me. It was – I want to say excitement, but it was actually real depression for thinking about someone else’s loss on the other side of that.”

It wasn’t until after the surgery that Bernie realized the brutal truth. The same young man whose ordeal he’d watched on the news was the person who ultimately gave him a new life. When Bryce decided to donate his organs, his parents thought about Kosar, who’d been sharing regular updates about his battles on social media. Bryce’s mother, Kimberly Kane, later shared their ordeal in a Fox 8 interview.

“My ex-husband and I looked at each other and said Bernie Kosar is going through some terrible stuff,” Kane said. “And we said put Bernie on the list.”

On November 17, 2025, Kosar was at the University Hospital being prepped for surgery around 4:23 in the morning. The Browns had lost on the football field the night before, but for Kosar, in his own words, “it’s absolutely Victory Monday.” He shared a heartfelt health update on X that Tuesday, calling the donation a ‘great gift.’

Neither Bernie Kosar nor the Cleveland Browns were going to forget Bryce Dunlap’s sacrifice. Before the Browns’ Week 17 clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kosar even shared a heartfelt message – posted by the Browns on X – as Kimberly walked through the tunnel into thunderous applause, officially appointed the Dawg Pound Captain for that game. She kicked off their final home game of the season by smashing a guitar, wearing a Browns jersey with Bryce’s name and Bernie’s No. 19 on the back.

Since then, Kosar has also shared a message on Instagram on Bryce’s birthday this May. And judging from his emotional comments on the Sage Steele Podcast, Kosar isn’t ever going to forget what the Dunlap family did to save his life.