Jordan Ablett reveals son Levi faces risk of ‘very short life expectancy’

Jordan Ablett has spoken about the tragic moment she was told son Levi’s diagnosis, revealing his disease comes with a “short life expectancy”.

Jordan Ablett, the wife of AFL superstar Gary Ablett, has opened up on the heartbreaking health battle faced by their son Levi, revealing the rare degenerative disease he suffers from has a “very short life expectancy”.

The Abletts went public last year with Levi’s condition and have shared multiple updates about his progress since then.

Speaking on The Significant Others podcast, Jordan talked about the moment Levi was diagnosed and the shattering realisation that his life was at risk.

“I just remember sitting with Gaz in that meeting and when they said it I just remember absolutely breaking down,” she said.

“It’s one thing to receive a diagnosis which just confirms that Levi has a rare and degenerative disease. However, it’s another thing to understand that it is life threatening and that’s like a whole other ball game and a whole other situation in itself because that stuff you just can’t prepare for.

“There is a very short life expectancy which is why I constantly say to people when they ask about Levi that we are literally just taking it day by day because we have no idea what the future holds.”

Levi enjoying himself at the footy.

The family is finding the positives in the time they spend together.

Months of worrying that something was wrong with Levi, without knowing exactly what that was, led the Abletts to Geelong’s AFL doctor, who put them in touch with a paediatrician.

That doctor then “got the ball rolling” and led to Levi’s diagnosis. While Jordan and Gary — who will go down as one of the greatest players in AFL history — initially kept the health news to themselves, they announced it to the world via social media in July last year as football players moved into a Queensland hub to continue the season.

Part of the reason to go public was so if Gary decided to leave the hub at any point — which he did to reunite with his family — then people would understand why, rather than speculate.

It was also tough to carry on like nothing was wrong while others kept asking about how Levi was going.

“The week we announced it, that was the week that the boys then moved into the hub, so he was going with them and he wasn’t sure how long he would stay,” Jordan said.

“He thought it would be a good idea also to put that out there so people had a bit of an understanding, so that if he decided to leave, I can guarantee you that unless they knew what the reasons were, it was ‘Why is Gaz leaving the hub?’

“People would just say things like, ‘Levi must be running around now’. Comments like that are so fine to receive, but when you are on the receiving end and you know everything that is going on it’s awkward.

“We don’t want to lie and be like, ‘Yeah, he’s running around’, because he wasn’t running around.”

The Abletts have received overwhelming support since going public.

Like father, like son.

Jordan added that going public felt like the right thing to do by Levi.

“We felt that, and this was not the intention, but we felt by us not sharing it was like we were saying to Levi, ‘Don’t be you’, and that was never the case,” she said.

“I would hate for any other parent to feel like they can’t share with people their child’s circumstance and what they’re going through out of fear that people would look at the child differently.

“So we wanted to set the tone that, ‘Levi, you are you and we love you and everyone will love you because you’re the best’.”

Ablett left Geelong’s hub to be with his family before Jordan’s mother died of cancer, as football took a back seat.

“Footy was so second and so irrelevant. I guess that having Gaz home was just the best, I wasn’t thinking about him missing games in his final season. Gaz certainly wasn’t thinking about that,” Jordan told The Significant Others.

“Gaz wanted to be exactly where he was and as far as ‘G’ was concerned we didn’t know what those months were going to look like, so as far he was concerned he’d played his last game.

“He wasn’t trying to get back for a game or to have a farewell of any kind, he was done unless there was an opportunity that presented itself then so be it, but if not, it is what it is.

“Everyone responded really graciously, we were completely overwhelmed with the level of support people showed our family.”

Smiles all around.

Gary left the AFL hub to be back with his family.

Ablett retired at the end of 2020 and before the grand final, which the Cats lost to Richmond, Jordan posted an emotional message to her husband about she and Levi feel about him.

Earlier this year Jordan released unseen photos of Levi’s time at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, opening up about how much joy there has been among the incredible hardship over the past 12 months.

She told The Significant Others: “In terms of this year we are just going to invest in Levi and invest in our family and enjoy the time we get to spend together.”

Originally published as Jordan Ablett reveals son Levi faces risk of ‘very short life expectancy’