Mark Herzlich Survived Cancer and Won a Super Bowl. Now He's Trying to Combat Modern-Day Slavery (Exclusive)

"I've always felt like there was a way to use our sport to really change the world," the former New York Giants linebacker tells PEOPLE

Mark Herzlich is no stranger to daunting challenges.

While a college football player at Boston College in 2009, he was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. He survived, and was back on the field in 2010.

In the NFL, he was drafted by the New York Giants — and was a key member of the 2011 team that overcame a lackluster regular season to win the Super Bowl.

Recently, Herzlich joined the International Justice Mission (IJM) as the director of athlete and influencer partners. His mission: to end modern-day slavery.

Herzlich, 35, explains, "IJM combats human trafficking and modern-day slavery by basically partnering with governments to rescue victims. They restore the survivors and restrain criminals, and then they work to repair justice systems in the different areas that they go to."

The former linebacker says he first became involved with the organization after attending a Christian marriage conference with his wife, Danielle Conti.

"IJM was partnered with the conference and hearing some of these things that were happening to women and children around the world, it moved us in a way where we wanted to know what we could do to help," he explains.

The Herzlichs, who have been married since 2015, began by donating, but it wasn't long before both Mark and Danielle became increasingly involved in the organization's events.

Herzlich now serves as the director of the professional athletes who work with IJM, a role that the former Giant says is "greatly fulfilling" for him.

"I've always felt like there was a way to use our sport to really change the world, and not necessarily through just watching it on Sundays. But this is a way that I was able to use the platform that I built for a real purpose that can help people everywhere," he says.

Related: A Super Bowl-Winning Team Reunites 10 Years Later to Tackle Childhood Cancer

Herzlich will travel abroad this summer with the organization and a group of athletes from the NFL and NBA.

"We're going there to see the work that's being done, going to a shelter to meet with the children there," he says. "We'll see the country and let the athletes see where the dollars they're donating go. I think one of the cool parts that these athletes get to do is to go to these offices in these different countries and do the work that's being done by the staff."

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Among the other athletes joining Herzlich are former fullback Tyler Clutts, who played for the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, and former New England Patriot Benjamin Watson. "The other ones kind of want to remain anonymous," Herzlich says.

The NFL has been "a fantastic partner" of IJM, Herzlich says. "We've done some wonderful work with the league itself, but really this has been grassroots from the players, we've raised over $16 million from the athletes as a part of Team Freedom, which goes right to rescuing people from slavery. And we have a number that we use as part of the fundraising, but it's $8,800 — $8,800 pays for an entire rescue operation."

Related: New York Giants Coach Tom Coughlin's Charity Gala Raises $1.5 Million for Pediatric Cancer Patients

In February, Herzlich says a group of roughly 200 NFL families attended a conference where a survivor who was rescued by IJM shared her story. "It was an unbelievable experience," Herzlich says.

The survivor, who uses the pseudonym Ruby, was trafficked after accepting an online job offer. Her story is the subject of a six-part podcast series called Finding Ruby. "I really recommend listening to it, it's a really sad, and yet uplifting and empowering story," says Herzlich.

Herzlich looks forward to meeting with more survivors abroad this summer. "To me, meeting the survivors is just an unbelievable experience. Being able to sit down and talk with these survivors, hearing their stories and then also seeing them play and smile, that's what I'm really looking forward to," he says.

Above all, Herzlich hopes his work with IJM will continue spreading awareness around the organization's work — and the humanitarian crisis it addresses.

"And that's what I've found the other members of our athletes group have been all about as well. Like, 'Hey, yeah, I may have Super Bowls, I may have All-Pros to my name. I may be a Cy Young Award winner, but how can I use that platform to really help our world?'"

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