Crikey intern Aaron Flanagan writes:
Jim Stynes’ journey from the green fields of Gaelic football to the heart and soul of the Melbourne football club was never as tough as the challenge he faces now.
The Dublin born ruckman and Demons legend has been fighting cancer since July. His first battle was against a cancerous lump on his back, only for it to reappear as three tumours on his brain after he had the lump cut out.
Stynes’ public confrontation with cancer has engendered the genial Irish-Australian with a massive groundswell of support both here and in the land of his birth, partly because he’s been sharing his experiences on twitter.
Through Stynes’ tweets, the world has been privy to the intimate hardships he and his family have encountered on the road to clean health.
The world was informed of the news given to him by his doctors in a post-operative examination via this tweet:
@jimstynes Small bump on recovery, little tumor on brain, will know soon
@jimstynes Good news PET scan all clean on rest body. Great support everyone xox
A subsequent message read:
@jimstynes 3 tumours on brain. Fight cont. Treatm looks pos+. Specialist 2morrow. Big 24hrs! Thx2all
Stynes appeared recently at the best and fairest awards night for the Melbourne FC to soul stirring applause, his head bald after a dose of radiation treatment. In his strong, distinctive Dublin – Australian mongrel brogue he spelled out exactly how he was progressing in his fight.
Imploring the crowd to stop clapping so he could keep his emotions in check, Stynes stood impassively on the open stage and, as he has done since he was first diagnosed with the disease, refused to hide from the fact as he openly addressed the audience.
“Obviously, it’s hard not to notice the nude nut,” Stynes said.
“I was actually hoping to come with a number two (haircut) but it sort of got ahead of me yesterday. It started to fall out.”
Stynes explained that his ‘nude nut’ was a result of undergoing two weeks of radiation therapy and that he would be taking four weeks recuperation to gather his strength before embarking on a final two weeks of therapy in November. Stynes, a religious man, prayed out loud that this would “please God, finish it off “.
In the weeks leading up to the award ceremony, he had tweeted
@jimstynes Nex step begins tues, 2weeks radiation,hair will have to go,Jimeoin is happy 2shave 2,get on board lets help some kids,brighten a few smiles
Then came:
@jimstynes Side effects not much fun,hate not being myself.Family have been awesome,great day at beach.Serious week of radiation ahead,learning heaps.
then this on October 21:
@jimstynes just had the head shaved, feels great, never had the guts when i played but wish i had now, my boy loves it.
Stynes won the Brownlow medal in 1991, becoming the only recipient of the award not born in Australia. He played 264 games for Melbourne, 244 of them in a row, an AFL record.
He is a two time all Australian and four time winner of Melbourne’s best and fairest award.
During his career, the 199cm ruckman distinguished himself for his impregnability and fitness. He pioneered the versatile ruckman role, using his sublime conditioning to effortlessly drop back or forwards when required. He broke the mould of the lumbering one dimensional tap-man, and was reputed to be the best runner at the club during his career.
Stynes’ pride and devotion to the club where he played out his entire career, came full circle at the end of last year when he took over as president, a role he relinquished in July when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Despite this, he continued to maintain a high presence at the club,
@jimstynes MFC B+F winner Aaron Davey, the talented brothers+1nude nut. What a great nite, just awesome,” he tweeted after the presentation of the award.
The coming weeks will test the Dubliner’s famed toughness.
Happy tweeting Jim.
