Cancer revealed

Press, 20 November 1987, Page 36

Cancer revealed

NZPA-AAP Melbourne The Victorian cricketer Simon O’Donnell will start a twelve week chemotherapy course next week in an effort to beat cancer of the lymph glands.

O’Donnell revealed at a press conference yesterday morning that a lump in his side which he previously thought was a muscle injury was in fact lymphoma.

He said he realised something was seriously wrong half way through the World Cup Tournament in India but kept his fears to himself so as not to jeopardise team morale.

He received treatment on the lump on his rib cage before he went away with the Australian team and, for a time, it seemed it was successful. But then, said the allrounder, aged 24, the lump reappeared during Australia’s preliminary matches in the World Cup. It was diagnosed as malignant last week.

The trashy, tasteless side of Australian journalism reared its ugly head at O’Donnell’s news. The Perth tabloid newspaper, the “Daily News,” under, a heading “Cancer Ignores the Rule Book,” ran a story highlighting Australian sportsmen who had died from cancer.

Meanwhile yesterday France mourned the death through cancer on Wednesday of champion cyclist, Jacques Anquetil, aged 53. It hailed his record five Tour de France triumphs and expressed admiration at his final battle against stomach cancer.