National Grateful Patient Day Date in the current year: September 7, 2025

National Grateful Patient Day was created by former NFL player Rolf Benirschke. Benirschke’s NFL career began in 1977 when he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and then traded to the San Diego Chargers for his rookie season. In the off-season before his second season in the NFL, Benirschke developed chronic fevers, diarrhea and abdominal cramps and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.

During his third season, Benirschke suddenly collapsed on the team plane. He underwent two emergency surgeries in six days and spent several weeks in intensive care. When he was released from the hospital, Benirschke weighed only 123 pounds and had to learn how to live (and play football!) with two ostomy systems. He also contracted hepatitis C from one of his many blood transfusions.

Benirschke officially returned to the Chargers on November 18, 1979, but did not play in that game. He made his triumphant comeback on September 7, 1980 in a game against the Seattle Seahawks, in which Benirschke’s two field goals and four extra points contributed to the Chargers’ 34-13 victory. Bernishke spent seven more seasons in the NFL before officially retiring in December 1987 as the Chargers’ all-time leading scorer with 766 points and the third most accurate placekicker in NFL history at the time.

Following his retirement, Benirschke devoted much of his time to patient advocacy, becoming a national spokesman for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) and for Hepatitis C awareness. He also founded Legacy Health Strategies, a company dedicated to accelerating the development and delivery of new medicines, treatments, and devices by bringing the voice of patients to companies.

On September 7, 2017 – the inaugural National Grateful Patient Day – Benirshke founded the Grateful Patient Project to create a community of patients who want to express their gratitude to medical professionals, researchers, caregivers, and families, and share their inspiring stories of recovery.

National Grateful Patient Day encourages current and former patients to take a moment to thank their doctors, nurses, families, medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies and others who have played a critical role in their treatment and recovery. It is also a great day to share inspirational stories of recovery or remission from a disease to give hope to those going through the same thing.

Other ways to get involved include donating to a healthcare charity that supports patients with a specific condition or funds medical research, volunteering in a healthcare setting, sharing patient resources and educational information with other patients, and posting about National Grateful Patient Day on social media using the hashtags #GreatefulPatientDay and #GreatefulPatient to spread the word.