Mounties’ player Sage Wilder fights cancer with help from friends, family and club

SAGE Wilder plays hard for Mounties Rugby League Football Club — and he is taking the same approach to his battle with cancer after his sudden diagnosis with leukaemia.

Mounties player Sage Wilder is battling cancer with the staunch support of his friends, his family and his club.

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SAGE Wilder plays hard for Mounties Rugby League Football Club — and he is taking the same approach to his battle with cancer.

The 22-year-old, who hails from Cronulla but is loyal to the Mt Pritchard club, received a shocking cancer diagnosis just a few weeks ago.

“I had this rib pain and, over the Easter long weekend, the pain moved up to my shoulders,” Wilder said.

“I had to take days off work — the pain was unbearable.”

An X-ray, CAT scan and a blood test confirmed a diagnosis of leukaemia.

However, Wilder already has been completely overwhelmed with support from his friends, family and his club.

The young player’s good friend Joel Edwards started a fundraiser to support him as he undergoes weeks of chemotherapy at Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick.

His community has raised more than $44,000 to date — and they are not finished yet.

Sage Wilder avoiding a Cabramatta opponent in the Ron Massey Cup kick-off.

“I get totally speechless,” Wilder said. “There has been so much support and love, and even just a quick message has meant the world to me.”

Wilder will leave the hospital in three weeks and continue his treatment as an outpatient.

“I would love to get back to football but I’m just looking forward to getting my health back on track first,” he told the Advance.

Mounties head of football Stephen Litvensky said the club would support Wilder in every possible way during the coming months.

“The news is still very raw,” Litvensky said.

“We want to make sure Sage and his family are all right and supported to do what they have to do while he has treatment.”

Edwards set up the fundraising campaign on May 1 after learning of his mate’s diagnosis.

“As everybody knows, Sage Wilder is one of the most caring, selfless and generous people you will ever meet,” Edwards wrote on the GoFundMe page.

“He does anything and everything for the people he loves, and anybody that is lucky enough to know Sage would know exactly the type of person that he is — always putting others before himself.”

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Edwards said the funds raised would go toward “hefty” medical bills associated with Wilder’s treatment and to ease the burden of his illness in the coming months.

“It’s now time to return the love Sage has shown everyone and help him kick cancer’s ass like we all know he will,” Edwards wrote.

“Even after being put through so much, Sage still has such a positive, strong attitude — just showing the incredible type of person that he is.”

To contribute to Wilder’s fund visit gofundme.com/sages-road-to-recovery