INSPIRATIONAL president Jim Stynes says he is “on the home straight” in his fight against cancer.
The four-time club champion spoke about his illness and how he likened it to a hard-fought tennis match, when he launched Melbourne’s Debt Demolition campaign on Thursday night’s ‘The Footy Show’.
“It’s a bit like tennis and you’re in the third set and you want to close the game out. If you don’t, it becomes drawn out, so I’m doing everything I possibly can,” Stynes said.
“I’ve got a great team of specialists around me and I’ve got great people and support with the public, friends and family … I couldn’t have better support.”
The 1991 Brownlow Medallist said he was “going pretty well” at the moment with his treatment.
“I’m in the middle of radiation. Luckily I don’t have to lose all of my hair this time. It’s interesting when you lose your hair, everyone thinks that’s it - you don’t get it back. But it is good to be back and doing what I do and enjoying what I’m enjoying and making the most of it,” Stynes said.
“I had an operation about 10 weeks ago, when they took out five [tumours] and one of them grew back and another one has just appeared while I was doing the treatment.
“So instead of surgery, they decided to do some radiation, because you can get some side effects and be debilitating. I’m just finishing that and that should be fine, so I can get on with the rest of the treatment.”
Regarded by many as the greatest football story of all-time - for his well-documented achievements on and off the field - Stynes said it was important to remain occupied, despite his serious condition.
“It’s very difficult to just sit back and not do anything. Life can be very boring and you need a purpose. You need to take a bit of responsibility in your life and you need to do things and you need to look forward to weekends,” he said.
“I’m not as busy as I used to be. I was addicted to being full all of the time and not having as much time for family, as I should have, and that was a bit lesson I learnt. [I] also, tried to do too many things.
“When I took on the Melbourne presidency I wasn’t sleeping, because I had so much stuff going on in my head.”
Stynes said he took on the Melbourne presidency, because he feared the club could have been pushed out of the competition or merged.
“Two years ago, when we took over this gig, we were in terrible trouble as a football club - we were $5 million in debt and something needed to happen really fast,” he said.
“The first decision we made as a board was that we were going to knock off this debt, so we will in two years and two months - we’re going to knock it off.
“We’ve got until August 4, when we’ll finish with a big event for all of our foundation heroes - they’ve already put in an awful lot over two years. We’re launching it this weekend … and we want all of our Melbourne supporters to get involved in this.”
The four-time club champion spoke about his illness and how he likened it to a hard-fought tennis match, when he launched Melbourne’s Debt Demolition campaign on Thursday night’s ‘The Footy Show’.
“It’s a bit like tennis and you’re in the third set and you want to close the game out. If you don’t, it becomes drawn out, so I’m doing everything I possibly can,” Stynes said.
“I’ve got a great team of specialists around me and I’ve got great people and support with the public, friends and family … I couldn’t have better support.”
The 1991 Brownlow Medallist said he was “going pretty well” at the moment with his treatment.
“I’m in the middle of radiation. Luckily I don’t have to lose all of my hair this time. It’s interesting when you lose your hair, everyone thinks that’s it - you don’t get it back. But it is good to be back and doing what I do and enjoying what I’m enjoying and making the most of it,” Stynes said.
“I had an operation about 10 weeks ago, when they took out five [tumours] and one of them grew back and another one has just appeared while I was doing the treatment.
“So instead of surgery, they decided to do some radiation, because you can get some side effects and be debilitating. I’m just finishing that and that should be fine, so I can get on with the rest of the treatment.”
Regarded by many as the greatest football story of all-time - for his well-documented achievements on and off the field - Stynes said it was important to remain occupied, despite his serious condition.
“It’s very difficult to just sit back and not do anything. Life can be very boring and you need a purpose. You need to take a bit of responsibility in your life and you need to do things and you need to look forward to weekends,” he said.
“I’m not as busy as I used to be. I was addicted to being full all of the time and not having as much time for family, as I should have, and that was a bit lesson I learnt. [I] also, tried to do too many things.
“When I took on the Melbourne presidency I wasn’t sleeping, because I had so much stuff going on in my head.”
Stynes said he took on the Melbourne presidency, because he feared the club could have been pushed out of the competition or merged.
“Two years ago, when we took over this gig, we were in terrible trouble as a football club - we were $5 million in debt and something needed to happen really fast,” he said.
“The first decision we made as a board was that we were going to knock off this debt, so we will in two years and two months - we’re going to knock it off.
“We’ve got until August 4, when we’ll finish with a big event for all of our foundation heroes - they’ve already put in an awful lot over two years. We’re launching it this weekend … and we want all of our Melbourne supporters to get involved in this.”
