Hamish McLachlan: Jarryd Roughead’s shock cancer diagnosis showed him there is more to life than footy
JARRYD Roughead hit his lowest point when, a year after a routine operation to remove a melanoma, he was diagnosed with cancer in his lungs. He fought it, beat it and has started a growing family with a positive future.
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JARRYD Roughead. Husband, father, son, brother, Hawthorn captain, four-time premiership Hawk, cancer survivor.
“Roughy” was first diagnosed with a melanoma on his lip in 2015, underwent a routine operation and was given the all clear a week later.
A year later, cancer had returned and was through his lungs.
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It’s been two years since I spoke to Roughy last, and while there have been some monumental changes in his life since then, he likes to think he’s still the same bloke.
We spoke about fatherhood, his second diagnosis, clinical trials, breaking down to Jordan Lewis, becoming a better person and his daughter, Pippa.
HM: How’s fatherhood going, Roughy? How’s Pippa?
JR: Very very good — it’s amazing, actually. Pippa’s six months old now, and her first tooth popped through last Saturday! She came to the game, which was nice.
HM: Your face lit up when I mentioned Pippa. What makes you smile so much when you think of her?
JR: Everything, really. I guess given where I have come from two years ago, to now, she and Sarah are basically everything I have in my life. I just feel so lucky.
HM: It’s amazing how life changes. You get diagnosed with cancer, fight it, beat it, and now you’ve got a family and a growing brood.
JR: It’s a pretty cool story, isn’t it?
HM: Very.
JR: You don’t necessarily want to be in a story like that, but now that I’ve been through it I definitely think that I’m a better person for having been through it. I have more of an appreciation for life now, and a little bit more patience than what I did have in the past. In saying that, Pippa is six months old, so I dare say that patience will be tested over the next 31 years!
HM: No doubt. How are you a better person?
JR: I think I now understand that footy’s not everything. When you get drafted, you’re a 17-year-old boy that leaves the country, moves to the big smoke and you think life’s just footy, footy, footy, but when you go through something like I did it puts everything into perspective. You finally understand that footy’s not everything, even though you’ve always thought that it is, and you’ve been living a very selfish life assuming it is. You can get caught up in the hustle and bustle, especially here in Melbourne, but when you go through something like cancer, you understand that it isn’t everything. It’s bloody important to me, but you do see that there’s more to life than the results of two hours of footy on the weekend.
HM: What did you know about cancer when you were first diagnosed?
JR: I knew that it’s pretty bloody scary, but in reality, not much else! With the first initial cancer on my lip, I didn’t really think too much of it because it was cut out and I was back playing within two weeks. I thought it was gone and done. But the second time around, the doc said, “We’re in a bit of trouble here”. Initially I thought there must be a spot on my body, but when he said there were four tumours in an organ, I guess you know it’s pretty bad straight away. And on top of worrying about yourself, you worry about everyone else — because I’d only been married six months earlier, and Sarah had just started a new job as well. It’s all pretty terrifying and chaotic, that’s for sure.
HM: Initially, you were diagnosed with a melanoma, and you had it cut out and you thought you were through it all. Then in May a year later, cancer is in your lungs. At that point, I assume, life stops — and everything gets put on hold.
JR: Life changes pretty fast. Everything that you were doing or had planned is out the window. From the moment the doc told me I had cancer through my body, I can almost relive every step, moment for moment. Everything slowed down a little. We were told on a Monday at 4 o’clock that it was in my lungs. By 5 o’clock I was in the car and ringing Jordy Lewis, breaking down to him on the phone. Then I went home after going to the club, and waited for Sarah to come home because I just didn’t know how to tell her over the phone.
HM: Sarah wasn’t with you when you were told?
JR: No, she wasn’t, because I’d been through a couple of PET scans and reviews prior, and there was nothing on the scans. It was supposed to be just another routine scan where you walk in, get the all clear, and walk back out and continue on for another three months. That changed quickly, though. The doc was pretty quick to inform me that something was going on. So I told Sarah that night and then the following days are basically focused on: “Righto, how do we fight this, what treatments and options do we have, what’s available to me, how do we best attack it?”
HM: Was Jordan Lewis the first call?
JR: Yep. I remember exactly where I was. I was turning onto Punt Rd off Brunton Ave when I rang him. He said, “What’s going on?”, and I just broke down straight away.
HM: How do you tell your friends and family?
JR: It’s bloody hard actually. You wish it could be quicker and easier. I went straight to the footy club after the diagnosis and for probably two or three hours, I was just lost. I didn’t know what to think, what to do, where to go. You do think the worst at times. Then I decided I was just going to attack it like a footy injury. I rang my brother, sister, Mum and Dad that night, and informed friends about what was going on. I was coming back from a knee, too, so I thought I was only one or two weeks away from playing! That gets put on hold as well.
HM: Was your oncologist, Grant McArthur from Peter Mac, the one who suggested trialling some drugs that had been through clinical trials?
JR: It was. Initially I was thinking chemo, radiation and these types of things, but when he mentioned a treatment that had just completed testing on clinical trials, my first thought was, “Why, what are the benefits?” When he and Donna, my nurse, both told me that the trial with some drugs had been really positive, and that they were having a really good effect on people, I just put all my trust in them. You’re trusting them with your life, your life’s in their hands, in a sense. I felt I just had to give it a go, as they know best.
HM: It’s amazing how quickly you can go from never having met someone to trusting them with your or your kid’s life.
JR: Yeah, it’s crazy. We are so lucky to have some of the best medical practitioners in the world here in Melbourne — you and I both know a few people who wouldn’t be here if they lived elsewhere. My doctor had dealt with numerous cases of people with melanomas and they know what to do. Two years on, I look at how many people are on this trial that’s on the PBS. It’s great.
HM: In simplest terms, what is a clinical trial?
JR: It’s where a lot of clever people working to develop new medicines and treatments need to conduct clinical trials to test whether these new treatments and medicines are safe and effective to introduce to everyday treatment. The drugs I used were very new, and there wasn’t enough research to say that they was having a great effect, but early signs were very positive, and ended up being the difference between me having cancer and not.
HM: You were happy to take the chance on drugs that weren’t proven?
JR: Yeah, I was. When you’re hearing that it’s positive news, and it’s working, well, I was keen on giving it a crack. It’s not that there were no other options, but why not? At the time I was a 29-year-old man that was going to give it a go, understanding that there were going to be some side effects. I had to be open with my oncologist and nurse, because they’d seen what was going on, so as long as I was open with them I was pretty comfortable.
HM: You used a combination of drugs that had been through clinical trials, didn’t you?
JR: That’s right. Ron Walker was a pioneer in terms of the clinical trials. He found one and brought it back to Australia, and mine was similar to his, but not the actual drug that he was on. I had a combination of two drugs that I was taking every three weeks.
HM: Can anyone can do a clinical trial?
JR: As long as they’re open to it! A lot of people think that it’s only available to the people that are sick, but in actual fact, it’s for anyone that’s open to being a participant and willing to try different trials that could benefit not only people that are sick, but people that are fully healthy. If it’s been suggested by their doctor or nurse, you should definitely think about it, because you never know what could happen. Initially, I thought the clinical trial was a bit of a long shot, but it saved my life. We need more trials to improve drugs and treatments. I don’t think there should be any negative stigma surrounding it.
HM: And that’s why you’re a part of the Helping Our Health campaign, to get that message out?
JR: Correct. If you are healthy, don’t be afraid to participate and be willing to try different trials.
HM: The drugs you used are now approved, aren’t they?
JR: They are. I think there were only two or three people that were on the trials in the hospital at the time I was on them. Now when I go in, there’s a backlog of people that are on the drug, which is great. It’s showing that it’s working, and that it’s saving lives.
HM: When you go through the treatment, you’ve mentioned there are side effects. What were the worst for you?
JR: I had some problems with nerves in my feet.
HM: You lost feeling in them, didn’t you?
JR: Just ask some of the boys! I went on an interstate trip to Perth, and Jordy Lewis woke up during the middle of the night. He looked into the bathroom and I had my feet in the bath, just trying to get some feeling back. It’s like bad frost bite, or pins and needles really. In saying that, I was open straight away with Donna and Grant about it, and they knew how to treat it. Three or four months after, I was starting pre-season for the 2017 season.
HM: Any effects now?
JR: None.
HM: Amazing.
JR: And the last treatment I had was August or September of 2016.
HM: Throughout the battle and through all the treatment, what was the lowest you got?
JR: It was on the eve of Sammy Mitchell’s 300th. We played Richmond on a Sunday, and I was in a fair bit of pain. Not that it was turning on me, but I was full, in terms of the drugs. I’d lost a bit of weight, and I was dealing with a few different side effects. I’m going into the hospital and saying, “I’m not feeling too bloody good here — what can I have to ease the pain and make me feel better?” At the time, the answer was Panadol. That’s not what you want to hear!
HM: You are hoping for something a little more sophisticated …
JR: (laughs) Exactly …. something with a little more punch. I stayed positive and assumed the drugs were working — I thought if it had started to turn on me a little bit and I was feeling terrible, imagine how the cancer cells are coping!
HM: You got pretty crook. Cam, your younger brother, said he was on the phone to you one morning when you were on the way to Peter Mac. Your body was letting you down, you were vomiting and couldn’t eat and were in pain. When a loved one is affected, those around you are also heavily affected.
JR: It’s not nice seeing someone you care about so much go through this type of thing. For me, I was lucky because I had the footy club, and with them they knew straight away how to deal with it. I’d get there and do what I needed to do, and no one really treated me any differently. Sometimes you’d walk the street, and you’d get pointed out as that footy player with cancer, and you could feel the eyes on you. For family members, and especially your wife, they don’t have that kind of support around them like I did at the footy club. The people within the footy club, and players’ partners and stuff like that, the part that they played in helping my family was huge.
HM: I asked Cam, what was the one thing that surprised you most about the ordeal? He said, “Jarryd never, ever, ever got negative”. You stayed positive throughout. How did you do that?
JR: Well I didn’t look at Google — that was step one! You can’t do that. I told that to Sars straight away: “Don’t look at Google. If you do, you’ll think the worst”. You understand it can happen, but again, I treated it like a footy injury. I thought, “Right, if I’m out for six to twelve months, then that’s what I have to deal with.” Initially we thought we were going to be under treatment for two years, but I guess that’s how I’ve attacked most injuries, whether it be the Achilles, a knee, or even this. You treat it like a footy injury.
HM: Did Sarah ever go to Google?
JR: Yep!
HM: (laughs)
JR: I came home one night and I could tell straight away. There were tears, she was scared, and I could understand that. She was only 26 at the time, and she was hoping that we had our whole lives ahead of us — together — but after getting online and spending some time with Dr Google, she wasn’t so sure.
HM: People go through a battle like cancer without a Sarah, without a footy club, without family — doing it alone. It’d be bloody tough.
JR: Hard to imagine how hard that’d be. When you go to the hospital and you see the amount of people that are there waiting for treatment, or waiting for scans, it is frightening.
HM: Which is why a high-profile survivor like you — with a good outcome — provides hope.
JR: In a sense, you’re a bit of a posterboy. Even though you don’t want to be, and you wish you weren’t, it’s about the hope, the sense of making people feel like they’re not alone, and making them feel like they’re a part of the footy club in a way. You’d have people walk up to you and give you a hug in between treatments, or while you’re waiting there in the waiting room. You’ve got to stay positive.
HM: You did, and now you are a father, and heading into the finals again.
JR: When a doc like Grant — who is a genius, by the way — says, “You’re all clear and I expect you to be a grandad one day”, well that makes you feel pretty bloody good. I’m still here, I have a six-month-old daughter, I’m two and a half years married … life’s pretty bloody great!
HM: What did you learn about yourself, and what did you learn about others through it all?
JR: I think I learnt that when you are really struggling, everyone in the footy world and the industry will support you. It’s not like a footy game where you go and you support either side and boo the others. When you need it, it is nice to know you have the support of everyone. It’s been very humbling and comforting, too. The well wishes from people walking the streets, people in cafes, everywhere, all hoping for the best possible outcome, were extraordinary. When you’ve got the support, it’s easier to attack it and go for it. For me personally, it’s changed me a little bit, but I still like to think I’m the same person, just a bit wiser.
HM: You never changed, have you — you’re still the kid from Leongatha?
JR: If you ask some I’m sure they’ll say I’ve changed, but I’d like to think that most people that know me well would say I’ve stayed the same.
HM: Thanks for your time, I’ve wasted enough of it. Go and spend the afternoon with Pippa.
JR: Ripper — I’ll do that right now. Thanks, mate.
For more information on Australian clinic trials click here.
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