Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Premiership veteran Rhys Oakley facing cancer battle

Rhys Oakley

The current captain of Hartpury RFC and former Welsh international Rhys Oakley has spoken of a recent cancer diagnosis that emerged in the lead up to routine ankle surgery – report GloucesterLive.

ADVERTISEMENT

A veteran of the English Premiership, Oakley won three caps for Wales in 2003 and has enjoyed a long career at clubs across the UK and France.

The backrow recently presented for ankle surgery but it was refused as he reported chest pains and a shortness of breath.

“When that operation was due I had a bit of a chest pain and thought really nothing of it,” said Oakley. “I did go to the doctor but they couldn’t really work out what was wrong.”

Symptoms the 37-year-old backrow initially dismissed were then dramatically revealed to have a more sinister cause.

“I went in for the operation and they refused to put me under anaesthetic, which is fair enough considering I had chest pains and didn’t know what it was.”

“They sent me to see a cardiologist to find out what was wrong and make sure there was nothing wrong with my heart to make sure that if I did go under anaesthetic, I was going to wake up.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The 37-year-old was then given the hammer of blow of being told he had a form of testicular cancer in his chest.

“I had those things done and it came back on Friday that it’s a form of testicular cancer that has not grown in my testicles but has grown in my chest.”

“I went for a CT scan with the cardiologist and they found a large mass lump in my chest cavity behind my breast plate, slightly pushing against my heart which is what was making it hard to breathe.

“They initially thought it could be a lymphoma or some kind of cancerous mass but weren’t sure so they needed to do a biopsy and blood tests.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 6’5, 108kg backrow now faces more test and intensive chemotherapy to reduce the tumour.

He told Gloucester Live: “They’ve told me that I have to do a few more tests to make sure it’s not anywhere else and is solely in my chest.

“Once that’s all done I suppose they’ll start me on a course of intensive therapy, chemotherapy, drugs to try and shift it as soon as possible with the thought that if they don’t completely reduce it with chemotherapy then it may be surgically removed.”

Oakley has played for Northampton Saints, Bristol Bears, Dragons and Leeds Carnegie among other sides. He also appeared for Wales in the Commonwealth Games in 2006, being part of the squad who won the Plate competition in Sevens.

Read the full story at Gloucester Live.

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video

South Africa vs Black Ferns XV | Women's International | Full Match Replay

Play Video

Namibia vs United Arab Emirates | Asia/Africa Rugby World Cup Play-off | Full Match Replay

Play Video

Lions Share | Episode 5

Play Video

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Play Video

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

Play Video

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

Play Video

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

Play Video

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

S
SK 2 hours ago
Lessons the Wallabies must heed to turn Lions heartbreak into future success

Brett I love your fresh take on the picture that needed to be painted and ultimately wasnt. I agree there just wasnt enough in it for the ref to call it back and ultimately the ref was consistent the whole night at the breakdown. Australia are damned disheartened now but look how close it came to beating a team Campo said would thrash them by 30. This is the perfect prep for the Rugby Championship and the Boks and NZ. The Boks will be able to bring a scary pack to face the Aussies but it will be just as scary as facing these lads and so the Wallabies for me are making progress. They are not quite the finished article and the soft moments and tries and passive defence just proves it. Schmidt was brought in to make Australia better, he was brought in to make sure Australia improved in time for the Lions to avoid an embarrassment and look he has done that and taken them close so while the result is gutting its a job well done so far. lets see if they can take one step further and pilfer a test off these patchy Lions. Just a quick word on refs and the laws. Can we please tell World Rugby to simplify the game. At least 5 or 6 laws were examined in the wake of the last minute cleanout and several said Tizzano should have been pinged, others say Morgan should have been pinged. If former players and refs cant agree on what the right call was then it means the game is too complex. The refs have a clear mandate to let the game flow. I agree with that but the laws must support the refs. Right now they do not and leave too many holes for the refs to plug. The result is a furore after every major engagement between nations where the refs are abused.

36 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Keenly priced Rugby World Cup 2027 tickets to open door to all fans Keenly priced Rugby World Cup 2027 tickets to open door to all fans