Former SANFL player Zac Dumesny speaks on his recovery after critical brain surgery

A young SANFL footballer eagerly awaits to return to the field after undergoing critical surgery following a brain tumour diagnosis.

Former AFL player Zac Dumesny with his dad and mentor, Duane Dumesny. Picture: MATT LOXTON

A young promising football player is on the slow road to recovery, after his dreams of playing football were stripped by an unexpected brain tumour diagnosis.

Former Panthers player Zac Dumesny has stopped playing football indefinately, after undergoing brain surgery.

The 20-year-old was going through his pre-season training campaign with SANFL club South Adelaide last summer, when his mother noticed he was frequently taking pain killers.

After Ms Dumesny questioned her son’s high intake of Panadol, Mr Dumesny revealed he had been getting headaches for the last year and a half.

“It wasn’t anything extreme, I was still able to go through my daily activities, through footy training,” Mr Dumesny told ABC News.

Zac Dumesny with family in hospital after undergoing critical brain surgery, the tumour turned out to be benign. Picture: ABC News

Ms Dumesny insisted her son see a neurologist before heading off on a pre-planned girls trip to NSW.

Concerned, Mr Dumesny’s neurologist sent him for further testing.

“He sent me to get an MRI and it came back that I had a large cyst on my brain and I had a tumour connected to it,” Mr Dumesny said.

Upon hearing the devastating news, Ms Dumesny quickly returned to Adelaide with Mr Dumesny’s sister Chloe.

The young footballer would undergo surgery several days later.

“We got told he might not be able to walk, he might not have normal speech, his face could droop, there was a lot of different situations,” Ms Dumesny told ABC News.

“Obviously with any surgery, death [was a possibility], so we had to process all of that.”

Mr Dumesny underwent an eight hour surgery which was initially only expected to be three hours.

Former South Adelaide AFL Zac Dumesny with his dad and mentor, Duane Dumesny in Noarlunga Downs, in 2020, before undergoing critical surgery. Picture: Matt Loxton

Following a successful procedure by surgeon Stephen Santoreneos, Mr Dumesny spent three days in intensive care, before he began rehabilitation.

“It was almost like I had to know how to walk again and learn how to talk again,” Mr Dumesny said.

Motivated with the desire to return to the football field, Mr Dumesny continued the long road to recovery with the mentorship of SA’s general manager of football, Brent Reilly.

During rehab, Mr Dumesny’s headaches returned with nausea and a loss of appetite, he lost six kilograms.

Thankfully, the symptoms subsided and the tumour, ruled as benign, would likely not return.

“They weren’t certain that it was cancerous or not, and thankfully it wasn’t,” Mr Dumesny said.

“My surgeon, he’s sort of pretty confident that he wants me to play again which is what I want, it’s what the family wants and what everyone wants.”

He is now waiting to get the green light from doctors to resume playing football, who have warned him that his diagnosis is equivalent to several significant concussions.

Ms Dumesny said should her son return to the football field, she would want him to “wear a helmet, just to protect the cerebellum part of his head.”

As he awaits for the official medical green light, Mr Dumesny is now working in the disability sector and intends on completing a masters in speech pathology.