Cancer scare for Mannah
James Hooper | August 23, 2009 12:01am
THIS is the heartbreaking story of one of the NRL's most promising young forwards as he battles a mystery illness. The greatest fear for Cronulla forward Jon Mannah is that he has a form of cancer, lymphoma.
While his older brother Tim was starring for Parramatta against Wests Tigers at the SFS on Friday night, 2km away Jon was in a hospital bed at St Vincent's.
He was discharged yesterday after doctors took some bone marrow from his back.
Mannah is expected to get the test results on Wednesday.
Deeply religious, Mannah is in the prayers of the rugby league community as he rests at his Condell Park home in western Sydney.
"I'm doing a lot better,'' Mannah told The Sunday Telegraph.
"They're saying it could be a number of things. What they're trying to rule out is an infection in the bone. We still don't know, we're waiting until Wednesday or Thursday next week to get a result."
"They've taken a little bit of bone marrow out. I'm free to go home today, but I'll be a bit sore around where I was cut.''
The Cronulla club has been swift to rally around Mannah since coach Ricky Stuart informed the Sharks playing group of his predicament last Saturday.
Out injured with a cracked vertebra in his back, Sharks doctor Dave Givney began to have concerns when the injury showed no sign of healing. He sent Mannah to Australia's leading spinal surgeon, Dr Richard Parkinson, for tests that later revealed what doctors refer to has a "hot spot'' - a warning sign for cancer.
Football is the furthest thing from the minds of the Mannah family.
Even as brother Tim prepared to play for Parramatta against the Tigers, you can guarantee he would have said a prayer for his younger sibling.
"He did a blood test on Tuesday and that came out OK, so it was a bit of a nervous week,'' Tim said. "Jonny being Jonny, he stayed positive and didn't let it get to him."
"They took out some fluid from his spine and then they're going to test the fluid to see if there's any infections. Hopefully he'll be sweet.''
From a tight-knit Lebanese-Australian family, brothers Jon and Tim still live at home with dad Fred, mum Abir and brothers Danny and Jamie.
Mum spent last Friday by Jon's side at the hospital, when Mannah spent 45 minutes under a general anaesthetic.
Sharks chief executive Richard Fisk has been in regular contact with the family, echoing sentiments of support from the rugby league community.
"The concerns and thoughts of all at the Sharks and the entire rugby league community are with Jon and his family in what's clearly a very stressful time,'' Fisk said.
"Jon and his family have faced the challenge with incredible strength and positivity and I'm confident this will be a major factor in providing the best possible outcome."
"It's fortunate that it's been caught early and that Jon is so physically and mentally strong to face the challenge.''
