I was operated on that afternoon. As soon as I woke the surgeon, John Bartlett, was sitting on the end of my bed to tell me the bi-op was malignant... lymphoma John found it hard to tell me and I found it hard to accept... I had to ring Mum and Dad in Deniliquin to tell them there was some bad news. Somehow you float through it even though you are scared s---less... The hardest part is the initial part, once you know what's in front of you it gets better. I don't want to trivialise cancer in any way. You have to let the emotion out then sit down and become realistic ... I never asked if my life was in the balance. My parents taught me, my school taught me, sport taught me but in particular cancer taught me that trust is the most powerful emotion we have. I trusted my doctors and nurses implicitly. It was amazing what I learnt about the power of the mind and how important trust is... There were the "how in the hell did I get it?" moments. No one knows, it could have been getting hit in a footy game or a cricket ball 10 years earlier.