{"id":441312,"date":"2025-02-18T18:51:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T19:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=441312"},"modified":"2025-02-18T22:13:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T22:13:04","slug":"penrith-players-miracle-for-schoolmate-battling-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=441312","title":{"rendered":"Penrith players' 'miracle' for schoolmate battling cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good days have been few and far between over the past few years for fanatical Panthers<\/a> supporter Jason Sanderson.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old went to school at Patrician Brothers Blacktown two decades ago with current Penrith stars Izack Tago and Soni Luke, all three dreaming of becoming NRL stars.<\/p>\n

But while Tago and Luke have fulfilled their destinies, life has become a nightmare for Sanderson.<\/p>\n

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"About three years ago I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"After all sorts of treatments they operated and took out a mass about the size of a football from my abdomen. It weighed six kilos.<\/p>\n

"I thought that would be the end of it but the cancer is back – and at stage four.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I'm just devastated – it's right through my body and I've started chemotherapy again this week – it's all hard to process right now but I'm determined to beat it."<\/p>\n

Despite his dire predicament, you couldn't wipe the smile from Sanderson's face one memorable day last week.<\/p>\n

"Unbeknown to me, one of our old teachers arranged for Izack and Soni to come visit me and they brought me a jersey and boots they had played in," he said.<\/p>\n

"I couldn't believe it – it meant the world to me. It gave me hope and I haven't had much hope lately."<\/p>\n

Sanderson's mum Dail was moved to tears by the gesture from the two Panthers premiership winners.<\/p>\n

"Jason has been a Panthers fan since he was seven – he's probably their biggest fan," she said, choking back tears.<\/p>\n

"He goes to every game he can. He's even been to Townsville, Brisbane and the Gold Coast to watch them.<\/p>\n

"To see the smile on his face when the boys came around\u2026 it was priceless.<\/p>\n

"Life has been tough for us and I pray to God every day.<\/p>\n

"This gesture from the Panthers boys was like a miracle to us."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good days have been few and far between over the past few years for fanatical Panthers supporter Jason Sanderson. The 28-year-old went to school at […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":441314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=441312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441315,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441312\/revisions\/441315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/441314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=441312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=441312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=441312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}