Dolphins forward Jarrod Wallace reveals newborn baby’s ‘face turned blue’ in terrifying ordeal

Jarrod Wallace takes on the most frightening challenge of his boxing career against 135kg monster Nelson Asofa-Solomona. But facing NAS pales in comparison to the fight his newborn son has been through.

Jarrod Wallace. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty

For Jarrod Wallace, getting bashed by Melbourne’s 135kg monster Nelson Asofa-Solomona in the boxing ring suddenly isn’t so scary when you confront your newborn baby fighting for his life.

Wallace will take on one of the most frightening challenges of his sporting career on Saturday night when the former Queensland Origin prop takes on 200cm giant Asofa-Solomona in an NRL fight night in Townsville.

But the Dolphins prop almost pulled the pin on the NRL heavyweight blockbuster after a “terrifying” ordeal involving his five-week-old son Banks.

Born prematurely at 30 weeks, Banks spent five weeks in hospital and was only cleared to go home early last week when Wallace and partner Shannon endured an experience the pair will never forget.

“The little fella has been through the wringer, we’re just blessed he’s alive and well,” Wallace said.

“Banks was only home with us for three days and then on the Tuesday (last week), his breathing got really strange.

Dolphins veteran Jarrod Wallace reveals a terrifying ordeal with his newborn son. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty

“We took him to emergency at Gold Coast hospital and he stopped breathing there.

“He had four episodes where he stopped breathing, but then he would take in some air and seemed OK, then every 20 seconds he would stop breathing again.

“The fifth time he just stopped and for 10 or 20 seconds his face turned blue.”

The 32-year-old Wallace, a father of four, said he had never felt such terror.

“It was wild,” he said.

“The nurse came flying in, hit the emergency button and within five seconds there were 15 doctors and nurses taking him to a resuscitation room.

“They rushed him in and started resuscitating him.

“It was really confronting. They had to do a lumbar puncture on him and do tests for viral meningitis, plus X-raying his ribs and lungs, to work out what was going on.

“It was terrifying. For someone like me who likes to be in control of myself and my actions, I couldn’t do a thing.

Dolphins player Jarrod Wallace with son Banks.

“I just had to stand there and hope everything would be OK.”

Wallace’s young son has since returned home in a stable condition and the 210-game NRL prop left Gold Coast hospital with no definitive answers.

“They did tests and they couldn’t figure out what happened. There was no answer,” Wallace said.

“They suspected it was an infection of some sort, so they started pumping him with antibiotics, which they don’t usually do with babies.

“The docs were a bit baffled because he went downhill so quickly and now he’s OK.

“It definitely puts life in perspective.

“My partner has been awesome. I told Shannon I shouldn’t keep training, but she encouraged me to keep boxing and thought it would be a good thing to take my mind off what was going on.

“Fighting Nelson isn’t so scary when you see your baby son fighting for his life.”

Wallace will trade blows with Asofa-Solomona over three, two-minute rounds at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre on a gala eight-fight card.

The event will also feature NRL stars Jason Taumalolo, Junior Paulo, Tevita Pangai Jnr and Reagan Campbell-Gillard, but all eyes will be on the fight debut of Melbourne enforcer Asofa-Solomona.

Former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker with Melbourne Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona. Photo by No Limit Boxing.

The monstrous heavyweight has reportedly broken opponents’ arms in sparring, but Wallace says Asofa-Solomona doesn’t scare him after fearing his son could die.

“When I told Wayne (Bennett, Dolphins coach) I was fighting Nelson, his exact words were, ‘You are a f***ing idiot’,” Wallace said with a laugh.

“But I’m going to give it a crack.

“Look, Nelson is the favourite. He has been training for two or three years and he has been looking forward to this moment of testing himself in the boxing ring.

“He’s a monster of a bloke, it’s daunting enough playing him in the NRL, let alone getting punched in the head by him.

“But I’m coming to fight. I want to put on a show with him.

“No-one wants to see a boring fight, I want to entertain the fans and there’s going to be some fireworks.”

Originally published as Dolphins forward Jarrod Wallace reveals newborn baby’s ‘face turned blue’ in terrifying ordeal