Pies president Jeff Browne in early remission after myeloma diagnosis
Jeff Browne has revealed the special gesture from a group of Collingwood players which galvanised his spirit as he battled cancer. Now in remission, he speaks to GLENN MCFARLANE.
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Collingwood president Jeff Browne has revealed he is in early remission from myeloma, a type of blood cancer, saying the support of the Magpies’ community had been “better than any drugs they can give me”.
Just six months after telling the Collingwood players he was fighting cancer in the lead-up to last year’s preliminary final, Browne is buoyant and grateful after receiving the positive news on his most recent test results late last month.
He maintained the support of Collingwood’s players and the club as a whole – plus the afterglow of last year’s premiership success – had energised him throughout his fight.
“I was told three weeks ago that I am (in) early remission, so the progress is really positive,” Browne told this masthead ahead of the Magpies’ flag-unfurling round 1 clash with Sydney at the MCG on Friday night.
“(It) picked the wrong body to locate itself (in).”
Browne contracted pneumonia leading into last year’s finals series, which led to a hospital stay where he was diagnosed with myeloma.
He told this masthead just days after the Magpies secured their 16th VFL-AFL premiership that he was “not dying of cancer, I’m living with cancer”, insisting he would kick it “sideways”.
“I’ve still got so much more to do,” he said.
Myeloma is considered incurable, but there are treatments available, with remission often meaning the signs and symptoms of the cancer are reduced.
He refused to let the cancer or chemotherapy treatment get in the way of his role as president during one of Collingwood’s greatest premiership triumphs last September and into 2024.
He said this week: “Probably when you get a cancer diagnosis, you think about how you reorganise your life. You get a bit of fatigue and things like that.”
“I remember I came back to Collingwood on the first day the boys came back to (pre-season) training, and I was standing on the boundary (at the AIA Centre).
“The guys ran off (the ground) and the Daicos boys, Brayden Maynard, Darcy (Moore) and a couple of other boys came over and gave me a hug on the boundary. I said: ‘That is better than any drugs they can give me’. I wasn’t expecting it, it just happened.”
Browne said the spirit of openness and embracing vulnerabilities, which has played a big part in the Craig McRae-era at Collingwood, was a key factor behind his decision to tell the players of his cancer fight before the preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney.
“The reason I spoke to them (the players) before the preliminary final was not to get them to feel sorry for me, or to get them to try harder,” he said.
“It was that we tell each other that sort of stuff (now), and that really got me pretty fired up and raring to go.”
Browne is in his third season as Collingwood president, but says he still feels enormously energised by the numerous goals he still wants to achieve at the club.
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Originally published as Pies president Jeff Browne in early remission after myeloma diagnosis
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