Sydney Boxer’s Emergency Operation

Grey River Argus, 11 October 1949, Page 6

Sydney Boxer’s Emergency Operation

WELLINGTON, Oct. 10

An Australian welterweight boxer, Leo Heaney, aged 24, of Sydney, who was a passenger in the Wanganella, was rushed to the Wellington Public Hospital for an emergency appendicitis operation when the ship berthed this morning.

The ship’s officers said Heaney’s brother, a member of the crew, advised the ship’s doctor at mid-day yesterday that the boxer was seriously ill. The case was diagnosed as appendicitis, but the ship’s doctor and a passenger doctor (Dr J. W. Kemp) decided after consultation that the operation could be postponed until Heaney reached the Wellington Hospital. Heaney’s only comment as he was placed in an ambulance was; “I think I will be going back in January.” Heaney’s last fight was in Sydney where he was knocked out by the Australian welterweight champion, Jack Hassen. He was reported to be planning to “free lance” in the ring in New Zealand.