FOXBOROUGH — Like Christian Barmore stood behind a lectern at Gillette Stadium for the first time in 10 months, sweat still glistening on the 25-year-old’s forehead.

Sunday afternoon, the Patriots fell to 3-8 with a loss to the Rams, and New England’s pass rush failed to sack Matthew Stafford even once. Still, it was a great day to be Christian Barmore.

Diagnosed with blood clots in July, it was never a given that Barmore would return here.

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“Don’t take anything for granted. I could have lost my life. My doctor told me,” Barmore said. “I got closer to God, just saying why did this happen to me? But God makes no mistakes. And I feel like God brings his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers. I am a soldier. So I told myself that I wasn’t going to let it get me down.

Doctors discovered potentially fatal clots in his lungs at the start of training camp in July. The initial diagnosis emerged from a swollen right calf with a red mark on it. Barmore assumed it was just normal wear and tear on a football player, but was told he needed to go to the emergency room to get it checked out. For a seemingly healthy 25-year-old, it turned out to be far more serious than anything he had imagined.

“The blood clots are no joke because I was really out of breath. It bothered me a lot,” Barmore said. “I told myself I wasn’t going to lose this battle. I told myself that I will continue to fight, continue.

Initially told he was going to miss the entire season, Barmore was so excited he couldn’t sleep when he was medically cleared this week. He returned to shorts and shell training on Thursday and missed Friday’s session. Sunday was the first time he played with pads since January. He recorded three tackles in 21 snaps playing a reserve role and did well afterward.

“I felt good. I’m still trying to get in shape, but I felt really good. I’m still doing well,” Barmore said. “Really, keep working, man, just keep putting in the extra work. This stuff is out of my lungs now. Thank God. Just keep grinding, man. But I feel really good. I feel really good.

Throughout the process, Barmore has enjoyed having David Andrews as a sounding board in the locker room. The veteran center missed the entire 2019 season due to blood clots, and Barmore credited Andrews for lifting his spirits when he started feeling down. With a new perspective, he is more motivated than ever.

“Never give up. Don’t give up,” Barmore said. “Because there will be days when you don’t want to do it. There will be days when you don’t even want to come see people .But I told myself every day, people support me. People love who I am and I love everyone here. I got a lot of support from this particular organization.

One of those fans was Kendrick Bourne, who spent the first month of the season rehabbing a torn ACL and saw firsthand how hard Barmore was working to come back.

“I just told him it was great to see him back there,” Bourne said. “He’s frustrated, obviously we didn’t win, but you have to think about the bigger picture. What we do is not easy. It’s a tough league and things happen that maybe you never thought would happen. So I told him to continue to be grateful that you are there.

Barmore certainly was, and getting back on the field alongside the people who always supported him fueled him.

“It really motivated me,” Barmore said. “Especially my man Coach (Jerod) Mayo and (DeMarcus Covington) and just my teammates, man. With the support they have given me every day, I feel like anyone in the world would love to come back because this team has truly supported me every time, even when I don’t have the head held high. So I just told myself that I’m going to come back for my team. So that was just my goal – my No. 1 goal.