EFL 2019: Eastern Football League champion Kire Talevski on the comeback trail from cancer fight
Eastern Football League champion Kire Talevski believes he may have played with undiagnosed cancer for as long as two years. He’s revealed how he dismissed persistent warning signs, and the ‘devastating’ toll on his young family.
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Kire Talevski describes it as consuming his world. All his thoughts and every action were jaded.
But the champion Mooroolbark forward is on the road to recovery after his recent battle with cancer.
While he’s still unsure how big a role football will play in his future, Talevski’s health is his priority, after he was recently given the all-clear from stage 3 bowel cancer and stage 2 lymphoma.
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The 34-year-old returned to work as a sprinkler fitter at the end of January and is busy spending valuable time with his two children (daughter Sophie and son Chilli) and wife Meghan.
The Eastern Football League was shocked when it was announced in January last year Talevski had been diagnosed with cancer.
Teammates and opponents were quick to help — a GoFundMe page raised $62,000.
Talevski had topped the Division 2 goalkicking the season he was diagnosed and was named in the Team of the Year for a sixth time, booting 65 goals in 18 games.
Two premierships at Vermont and best-on-ground honours in the 2009 Division 3 decider also spoke to his football ability.
But he believes he may have been playing with the cancer for as long as two years.
“The year I played at Templestowe in 2016, I remember falling heavily on my coccyx — I’m not light — and I reckon I would have had it then because it was sore for ages and it was where my tumour was,” Talevski said.
“It could have been quite a while. Because I let it go and bowel cancer is very slow growing — mine got to stage 3.
“It was all in the lymph nodes and it can take a while for it to get to that point.
“I let it go but if I actually had have got onto it — listened to my wife, gone and got a colonoscopy and got onto it earlier — because I had symptoms for ages and I just didn’t do anything.
“If there is anything you can get out of that, for anyone … never be too proud or don’t be blasé with your health.
“I always used to have that, ‘she’ll be right’ attitude (but) always make sure you go get checked, get everything looked at but you don’t need to stress about it all the time.”
Talevski was diagnosed on December 13, 2017. He hadn’t been feeling well for a long time, he said.
He was informed he would have a 60 per cent chance of being cured.
“I had diarrhoea for quite a while — probably a year — and it started getting worse and worse and that was what led me to get the blood test and then a stool test and then the colonoscopy,” he said.
“That was what found it — the blood test and stool test didn’t find anything. I did see a little bit of blood at times in the toilet but didn’t think anything of it. I just thought, ‘she’ll be right’.”
Complicating matters was that Meghan was four months pregnant with the couple’s second child, and they had just signed the paperwork to start building a townhouse in Mitcham.
Talevski said he was overwhelmed by “shock and devastation” when told the news.
“You don’t even know what you’re in for. It was devastating — you think the worst. Just terrible. That’s the only way I can describe it to you,” he said.
“We had a one-year-old at the time … plus we were renting right in the middle of trying to start our lives.”
Talevski was slated for bowel surgery on May 15 — 11 days after Chilli was born.
“Everything happened at the worst possible time — there is never a good time — but had the surgery and pretty much from that point it was a decline into a very difficult period in our lives,” he said.
“It was hard — new baby, Meghan was at home, I was at home, I was off work.
“It was 10, 11 months of treatment — mentally as much as physically it gets you down.”
Talevski said there were moments of isolation.
“Each step, as it got further and further into it, it just weighed you down more,” he said.
“I’m out of routine with work, you’re not around the footy boys any more, they’re all playing footy, all your mates are hanging out, they’re all doing stuff and all I’m thinking about is my family and this cancer.
“It consumes your whole world and every thought and you can become quite negative I suppose.
“You’re positive but it’s just a very negative time. There is nothing really good that is going on that can shift your focus on what you’ve got going on.”
But 16 months after his diagnosis, the man they call ‘The Kid’ is getting back to living a happy and healthy life.
Talevski went down for a pre-season run at Heights Reserve and “had about 20 kicks of the footy but for three days later it felt like my quad was about to explode”.
“I’m getting there. It’s been a long, hard — it’s been a struggle, mate,” he said.
“I’ve learnt that now more than ever that support networks and life is about creating good memories, family and friends and having those things — you’ve got to live your life.”
While uncomfortable by the fundraising efforts, Talevski said he and his family felt the warmth from the EFL community during his rehabilitation.
“In that really hard time, it really helped us with getting through things financially,” he said.
“Obviously I wasn’t working for a year and it took that side of the stress out of it.
“It’s not just the monetary side of things, it’s emotional, physical, mental … people get on with their lives, they’ve got their own lives to lead, so it was obviously helpful and I felt that support.
“It’s amazing what footy clubs and being a part of a group and a team can do for you and the way it can make you feel.
“It just shows what I know and what we all know and that’s why we’re a part of a club. That’s why you do it, to feel that support and being in a team environment and doing things with other people.”
Talevski said the idea of a football return appealed but he was content to continue to work on his health and catch up on some family time.
“Love the idea of it — miss the camaraderie and the competitiveness,” he said.
“As you get older, sometimes you probably, not lost sight of why you play footy, I think you realise what footy is all about and it’s about the camaraderie, the competitiveness, going out there to beat your man, win for the team, be a part of a group … I really have missed that and the idea of that is great but family-wise now, I’m trying to get a routine with a lot of other priorities.
“Maybe it might be an option but it’s not high on my priority list, I’ve got a few other things with life at the moment that I need to worth through.”