Courageous country footy coach Karl Jacka fighting on and off the field

COURAGEOUS country footy coach Karl Jacka has a reputation for putting others first, but it is the fight of his life he now finds himself waging off the field that Jacka admits is his toughest battle yet.

Rutherglen Coach Karl Jacka is Fighting Cancer, but doesn't let this stop him facing the elements to coach Rutherglen into the first round of Tallangatta league finals. Rutherglen play Thurgoona at Sandy Creek at Kiewa. Picture: Jason Edwards

COURAGEOUS country footy coach Karl Jacka has never been one to give up without a fight.

The happy-go-lucky leader has earned a reputation for putting others first and giving his all to clubs from North East Victoria to the Riverina.

But it is the fight of his life he now finds himself waging off the field that Jacka admits is his toughest battle yet.

Jacka, 35, has been diagnosed with a rare cancer doctors estimate he had a 200,000-to-1 chance of contracting.

With his team plotting a path to the Tallangatta and District League finals, no one would have blamed the Rutherglen coach for dropping his bundle when experts gave him a slim chance of survival.

Karl Jacka all smiles at a medical appointment.

Instead he decided to tackle stomach cancer head-on, inspiring the close-knit community and giving hope to his wife Cristy and seven-year-old daughter Lucy.

Jacka initially thought he may have had gallstones when he decided to see a doctor for the first time in 13 years one fateful Tuesday evening in late June.

Feeling discomfort in his chest, he checked himself in to an Albury hospital where fluid was found on his lungs.

At first, doctors suspected the problem was muscular and told him to come back in a few weeks if pain persisted.

But Jacka had pulled a hamstring before, torn muscles on the footy field and knew this was different.

So he pushed the issue with a GP and thanks god he did.

``I was sitting in the waiting room for a scan, planning the club’s ladies night and the next thing I know I’m in all sorts,’’ he said.

``And if I hadn’t probably stood my ground at that stage I could still be ticking along now not knowing any difference while it was festering away inside of me.’’

Further scans detected thickening on the lining of his stomach showing cancerous cells.

``All I had was a pain in my chest and a weird pain in my shoulder,’’ he said.

``They did some tests on the Wednesday, on the Friday I was told I had cancer, on the Monday I had a surgical consult, on the Wednesday they cut me open.

``Within 10 days of sort of arguing with my doctor I was basically told I had zero chance.

``It happened that quick.

45 players turned up at his hospital appointment to support him. Picture: Jason Edwards

Knowing he was ``in a fair bit of strife’’, Jacka called his players together to tell them the news.

Expecting a few of his troops might venture to a private hospital in West Albury for an update, he ordered cakes, sandwiches and drinks.

But when 45 blokes turned up, hospital staff had to open the board room while the team drew up a battle plan for Jacka’s road to recovery.

At first Jacka was told his best chances were ``time’’ and containment of the cancer that started in his appendix and spread to his stomach.

``Cure was probably not even on the cards,’’ he said.

``That was pretty full on and pretty hard to take and we were pretty flat for a little bit there.’’

But further tests and treatment at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne unearthed further options and hope.

``Slowly from there the wheels turned a little bit,’’ he said.

``It’s going to be a long process but it’s certainly a hell of a lot better than it was that first day.

``There is probably a 10 to 20percent chance of a cure and that is complete remission, the works.

``I guess the chances go up with treating it and containing it and going down that path.’’

Jacka reckons his cancer is ``like putting your hand in a sugar bowl’’.

``It’s not a massive tumour, it’s lots of little ones,’’ he said.

``It’s pretty rare ... but I guess I’ve got professors and whatever else at Peter Mac who are standing up and taking notice because it’s interesting.’’

His game plan is to stay positive and search for small victories.

``I know where the finish line is and I know where I want to get to — I want to get cured and all the rest of it,’’ he said.

His first goal was to get well enough to be home with his family.

Small things like eating dinner with his wife, watching Home and Away with his daughter or sitting at the footy ``rugged up like a 90 year-old grandmother’’ suddenly make him very happy.

Jacka insisted his players focus on the finals and not his battle. Picture: Jason Edwards

``I find setting small goals and small targets means when the big ones come or the bad ones come you can take two steps forward and then it only feels like one step back,’’ he said.

``I will just keep putting in the little ones like they are big ones anyway and it might take a thousand little victories to stack up to something of any sort of value.

``But I’m pretty determined to get those thousand little victories.’’

Rutherglen president Greg Lumby described Jacka as ``an absolute ripper’’ who seemed

``more upset to miss a game than to be rushed to hospital in Melbourne’’.

Despite his own troubles, Lumby said Jacka insisted players worry about finals rather than him and routinely sent text messages from his hospital bed offering words of encouragement.

``Footy comes a pretty distant second but that is just the way he is,’’ Lumby said.

``He just wants them to worry about the game and then worry about getting him through his fight.’’

Jacka worries younger team members have learned too much about life this year but finds comfort in the fact it might make them better people as well as footballers.

Usually when things go wrong, Jacka said he helps others so his situation does not feel so bad.

``But obviously this is one of those things when you’ve just got to front up,’’ he said.

``I know it’s not a great situation but it’s my situation and I’m loving the support I’m getting.’’

In a textbook case of grassroots footy clubs rallying around their own, Jacka has been flooded with support from his previous teams.

Every opposition coach has contacted him to wish him well.

Karl Jacka with daughter Lucy, 7.

And he can’t go two hours without someone from Rutherglen phoning to check if they can help.

After meeting his wife, most friends and dedicating a lot of his life to football clubs, Jacka said the ledger was more than square.

``The support you give others I’ve probably got back 25 times now,’’ he said.

``You get so down on the world sometimes when you’re crook and you question human nature and different things but there are so many bloody good people and good things out there.

``If anything I’m just happier now than I’ve been in a long time, just the fact that I’ve caught up with so many people over the last five or six weeks.’’

Jacka, who has been nominated as AFL North East’s coach of the year, typically doesn’t want this story to be all about him.

He hopes it will raise awareness and encourage others to get a check-up.

He wants Victorians to get behind Relay For Life and raise funds for the Cancer Council’s research, prevention and support services.

Team Jacka will be front and centre in this year’s campaign.

After chemotherapy and if doctors can contain the cancer, Jacka will go back in for surgery in November.

``Every time they give you good news they sort of lace it with `don’t walk out of here smiling thinking every thing is going to be OK, what you’ve got is unbelievably serious’,’’ he said.

``The numbers are stacked against you but you do have a chance so I’m just trying to be as realistic as I can and just front up as best as I can.’’

Rutherglen plays Barnawartha at Sandy Creek today needing a win to keep their premiership hopes alive.

Win, lose or draw, Jacka remains a champion to the people of Rutherglen who know he will not give up the fight.

``I generally know what I want and I do it and I’m pretty headstrong about it,’’ he said.

``But in regards to being tested as a person I probably thought I had before but I’ve never had to dig in really deep like this.’’

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Jacka says he’s never had to dig as deep has he has since his diagnosis. Picture: Jason Edwards