Legendary All Black Don Clarke has told in vivid detail how his battle with cancer has changed his life.
Clarke, known as The Boot, made All Black history with his classical kicking style, in which he placed the ball upright and kicked it square-on with his traditional square-toed boot. He followed
through with his head down and his left arm raised skywards in a style which brought him 781 points for the All Blacks in 89 matches, including 31 tests, in a career lasting from 1956 to 1964.
Clarke, aged 67, has known for several months that he has melanoma, which has spread to his neck. He has had two lymph glands and a fist-sized tumour removed.
He is visiting New Zealand with wife Patsy, and former All Black team-mates gathered to show their support before the Tri-Nations test against South Africa at Eden Park a week ago.
Clarke said yesterday - Daffodil Day - he was determined to beat the disease.
He had believed he was indestructible, but when his specialist in South Africa, where he now lives, gave him the news that he could be dead in 12 to 18 months, he was shocked.
"When you are told something like this you come back to total reality. You realise, 'Good God, 12 months ... No, there must be something to be done'."
At first, he told his specialist he did not want chemotherapy.
"But I said, 'Give it to me straight ... straight from the shoulder'. He said: 'I'll give you perhaps 12 months, perhaps 18, but nothing longer'.
"I said, 'Can I have chemo this afternoon?' My attitude changed immediately."
Clarke said the chemotherapy and the French drug he was taking caused all his hair, including his eyebrows and eyelashes, to fall out.
He returns to South Africa, where he has lived for 24 years, on Monday and the following day has another scan to check his cancer, before his ninth chemotherapy treatment.
"It is dreadful, but I know it is helping me and I am willing to put up with the burning sensation.
"The aftermath of chemo creates all sorts of problems - dysentery, constipation, that type of thing."
Clarke said he still had no appetite and his taste had been seriously affected.
"I can have a piece of meat and I struggle to tell you what type of meat it is."
He said that before his diagnosis, he was a "macho type of guy" who thought he was indestructible and would not listen to advice to keep out of the sun.
"I have spent half my life in the sun ... That has been my problem. I didn't listen. Eighty per cent of my skin is totally ruined ... I have 20 per cent left and that is a result of seeing too much sun, not protecting, not putting block on, not wearing the right clothes, not wearing the hat."
Clarke has become an avid promoter of the need to be protected from the sun and said he now ensured he was protected every time he went outside.
"The sun is stronger than we will ever be, and it is penetrating, day in, day out."
He now wore sunblock every day on all exposed skin, as well as a hat and dark glasses.
"I put it over my hands, over my arms and I am very, very aware what is needed is skin protection."
- NZPA
Legendary All Black Don Clarke has told in vivid detail how his battle with cancer has changed his life.
Clarke, known as The Boot, made All Black history with his classical kicking style, in which he placed the ball upright and kicked it square-on with his traditional square-toed boot. He followed
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