DOCTORS IN AUSTRALIA are said to be pleased with Jim Stynes’ progress following his latest operation to tackle a life-threatening brain tumour.
The Dublin-born Aussie Rules legend, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, was told last month that he only had a matter of weeks to live.
But Stynes, 45, was given an eleventh-hour reprieve last week when doctors found that his condition had in fact improved and he returned to hospital this week for another brain operation, his sixth in total.
Now the footballer is making plans to travel to South America with his wife Sam and their two children for Christmas after doctors released him from hospital yesterday and gave him the green light to travel.
Speaking on the Today show on Australian television, Sam Stynes said that the news of her husband’s reprieve was “a blessing”.
“It’s been a very rocky road to go through and definitely a big emotional rollercoaster ride for both of us, so when we got the call we were over the moon.
“He is doing really well. He is recovering at a really speedy rate. The doctors aren’t saying so openly but I can tell they are also quietly pretty impressed by his recovery.
We couldn’t be looking forward to this holiday more, it’s a blessing. We are just going to make the most of this time. Life is a gift.
Stynes moved to Australia in 1984 and became the first and only Irishman to win the AFL’s prestigious Brownlow Medal. He is president of Melbourne Football Club – though he has recently taken a step back from his day-to-day duties.
Today, the Melbourne Herald Sun crowned him as their Victorian of the Year for 2011, paying tribute to the courageous manner in which he has battled his cancer.
“His attitude helps explain his greatest feat – the simple act of still being here,” Patrick Carlyon writes.
“To borrow from Mark Twain, the reports of Stynes’ near-death have been exaggerated, again and again. That he is so alive to the everyday joys many of us overlook is a sort of legacy that reaches beyond superlatives.
The good may die young. Yet some of them give more in their final days than others offer in a long life. The spectre of Stynes’ death has only magnified the largeness of his life.
Great news for Jimmy & his family. He’s a real life inspiration to everyone.
Legend
Wishing him & his family many blessings , his courage and positive attitude is to be admired.
That’s a nice, good news, story
Great stuff. An inspirational man.
Keep going jimbo never give up
Incredible man if you have not seen the program about him make it your business to do so
Big Jim is a genuine legend of a man
In my opinion his book is one of the best ever …. Just try not to be inspired. Wish him and his family well.
What a man, He really is a true inspiration. His doc when it was on RTE brought tars to many eyes to see what some people go trough! Keep Fighting Jim, Legend!
its nothing to do with the size of the man, its all about the size if the fight in the man. quote from the documentary that stuck with me. Hero of a man.
Jim is such an inspiring bloke on the footy field but even more so off the field with his Reach foundation which has saved so many teenagers and his inbelievable fight with cancer over the past few years.
So much surgery and treatment and he remains President of the Melb Football Club and got them out of the red into the black.
So, glad he gets to have another Christmas with his family.
I interviewed another legend of the game Alan Jeans during the year, 2 weeks before he died, we discussed Jim’s treatment, progress etc when I asked Alan how on earth he was managing to hang in there against the odds. He said ” I am not surprised at all, remember what was like on the foooty field, never, never gave up and gave a 1000%”. Said it all, really.
Great man, saw a documentary on him not so long ago on RTE, great story!