R.I.P Johnny. We will never forget you. Â Â
No one is immune to Lymphoma
“Something I learned through my encounter with cancer, is that you’re not the only person affected by it”
I started out playing rugby league at the age of 12 for a local footy club. As a young kid playing footy, all you aspire to be one day is an NRL player. What seemed like something you just talk about as kids, or those guys you only see on your television screen, turned out to become a reality for me. Because 7 years down the track, when I was 19 years old, I was literally living the dream. Living MY dream!
I was given the opportunity at the time by my coach Ricky Stuart, I was completely overwhelmed. I played my first grade debut on the 11th April, 2009 for the Cronulla Sharks. After finding my stride in the NRL arena, I slowly began to establish a spot in the side week in week out. Despite the fact that the Cronulla Sharks were experiencing one of the toughest seasons a football club has ever come across, I thought to myself that this couldn’t get any better. After playing 12 games in the top grade I was beginning to create a name for myself, which was made a fair bit easier having a brother that also played in the NRL, Tim Mannah.
In this time I was trying to manage an annoying back injury, which we weren’t even sure if it was my back or rib. With the help of the team physio I was able to get it feeling ok just in time for the game each weekend. It eventually got the better of me in round 20 of the NRL season. The club doctor sent me off to have some scans and we discovered that there was a small crack in one of the vertebrae and that meant some time on the sideline. It was only a week later that one morning I woke up with these severe muscle spasms that sent stabbing pains down my back especially around the area of the fracture. Not being able to move the ambulance officers arrived and helped me to the local hospital. Dr David Givney was our club doctor and once he heard the news had me transferred to St Vincents Hospital in Darlinghurst to be looked at by spinal surgeon, Dr Richard Parkinson.
Little did I know that I would be spending a lot more time in this place than I could ever imagine. After a few days of having scans and then some unexpected blood tests, Dr Parkinson pulled me and my parents into a little room and told us that my situation could be a bit more serious than we initially thought. He explained there were some ‘hot spots’ that showed up in the scans which can sometimes be a warning sign for cancer. We thanked him and accepted the news respectfully, but to tell you the truth, I thought he was crazy. How in the world could I have cancer? I was young, fit and hadn’t felt sick at all. So I just brushed it off. To make sure though, the doctor wanted me to have a biopsy done of one of my lymph nodes and also my bone marrow.
A week after this rather painful experience my mum and I went back to see the doctor for the results. To be honest it wasn’t really a nervous wait, well for me at least, because I didn’t even consider the fact that I might have cancer. It wasn’t an option in my head. But when the doctor opened his mouth and said, “I’m afraid I don’t have any good news. You have Hodgkin Lymphoma.” I just sat there in disbelief not even sure what Hodgkin Lymphoma was. He explained a bit about it to us and told me that I was at stage 3 and would need 8 rounds (or 4 cycles) of chemotherapy. I looked over at mum and she took the news pretty well which made it a lot easier for me to handle it. I just said, “OK. When do we start?”
So on the 2nd day of September I was back in the hospital to experience my first treatment of chemotherapy. I arrived being as positive as I could be, because something I learned through my encounter with cancer, is that you’re not the only person affected by it. It can have an effect on those close to you although it helps if they see that you’re doing ok. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when I got there so I kinda just went along with what the nurses were doing and after a couple of treatments and asking a few curious questions, I learnt enough to start to believe I could almost be a doctor. I was using the correct terms and just going through in my head what should happen next. I had completed the first four treatments and my doctor was right when he told me it will probably get harder each time. But in my head I was setting goals and now I could tell myself I was already halfway to the finish line. Just keep getting through it.
I had a routine PET scan after my 4th treatment to check the effectiveness of the chemo to date. I assumed all was fine it was just something they had to do. However, the results were unusual. While most of the cancer was shrinking, there were parts in my abdomen that were actually getting worse. This was not normal with chemotherapy. So I asked the doc what this meant and he said to me that I had to endure an extra 4 treatments of chemo and most likely a bit of radiotherapy to top it off.
Johnny-Mannah-PlayingThis was the last thing I needed to hear. It shot my confidence massively. Not in my doctor but in knowing when all of this would end. Also my goal to play in round one of the 2010 NRL season went straight out the window. These next 4 treatments were really trying times for me. Yeah physically with the side effects and stuff, but it was more mentally. The uncertainty of when I will get better or if I’ll get better was killing me. Will I ever play footy again? I started to ask myself questions and to be honest, I had no answers. I was still able to put on a positive front, but I’m not sure how much I actually believed it inside. I realised I had nothing in me to beat this disease. I turned to God and told Him this is my situation, I wanna leave it all in your hands. At that moment I wasn’t worried if I’d ever play footy again. I wasn’t worried about how long the treatment would take. In fact, I wasn’t worried about anything. Although I had this belief in me that it was all gonna be fine.
I went in for surgery to remove a couple of the glands that were getting worse and then it was back to the chemo. My doctor added a new drug to my treatment called Mabthera and I took it twice by the time I finished my 8th treatment. It was time again for another scan to see how the cancer was responding. I didn’t think too much about what the result was gonna be but I really wanted to know for sure how much treatment I would need to get rid of this horrid disease. After I had the scan I went out for dinner and what happened on the way out was the last thing I expected. My mum got a phone call and it was my doctor telling her that he got the results from the scan that day. When my mum heard him say the words, “Your son is in remission”, tears filled her eyes, she kinda just threw her phone on the footpath and said to me, “It’s gone. It’s all gone” and then hugged me. People in the street started to stand and applaud, classical music started to play in the background, the sun came out through the clouds and…well maybe it didn’t happen like that but you get the picture. My doctor called and told us the scans were clear. It was incredible news to hear and it gave me back a lot of mental strength to get through my last 4 treatments. Also the good results meant I didn’t need to have any radiotherapy done.
On the 18th of March 2010 I had my 12th and final treatment of chemotherapy. It was a momentous day for me and I cannot do anything but thank God for what He did in me. It’s over I thought. I didn’t beat cancer. I survived it.
Johnny fought his lymphoma with courage and inspired many others to stay positive. Unfortunately, Jon Mannah passed on the 18.01.2013 Â Â
