The Mark Hughes Foundation

rhugh89

Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
The Mole from RLW has reported that Knights Legend Mark Hughes was diagnosed with a Brain Tumour 6 weeks ago, I have posted the article Below...

Our prayers are with Mark and his family, What a legend he is

Best Wishes Boozy

Former Knights star Mark "Boozy" Hughes is bravely fighting the toughest battle of his career.

The popular former NSW Origin player took a bad turn 6 weeks ago and was admitted to Hospital.

Test revealed a large Tumour on his brain, Which was removed in surgery last week.

RLW Immortal Andrew Johns is one of many former players who visited Hughes last weekend.

They are desperately praying and hoping that further tests next week will reveal the surgery was successful.

Source - RLW Mole

 
Noticed he hadn't been to many games of late talking before the match like he does.

Fingers crossed... Done heaps for our club.
 
That's horrible news. Best of luck for the recovery Mark! An excellent under-rated player, and one of the most entertaining people off the field to play for us.
 
Sounds eerily similar to what Scott Dureau had! I'm glad to hear the prognosis is positive.
 
Just an update on Mark, This is an article from this week's Big League Magazine :)


FIGHT BEGINS

Former Newcastle and NSW outside back Mark Hughes is in a fight greater than he ever experienced on a Rugby League Field having recently undergone surgery to have a brain tumor removed.

Hughes told ABC Radio Newcastke the removal of the tumor at John Hunter Hospital was successful as he begins Chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

"I always knew that with Rugby League the best thing I got out of that was my mates, And it's just been hammered home to me again here" Hughes told ABC's Craig Hamilton.

We wish 'Boozy' a speedy and full recovery.
 
Thankfully the op was a success, a long way to go but I wish him all the best, what a great guy.
 
Inside former Newcastle Knights centre Mark Hughes's battle with brain cancer


JAMES HOOPER
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
SEPTEMBER 28, 2013 12:00AM


MARK Hughes's greatest achievement isn't the 1997 and 2001 titles with Newcastle - it's the battle he's fighting now.


And if the 2013 Knights wanted any more inspiration for Saturday’s grand final qualifier against the Roosters, they need look no further than the club legend.

Hughes went to the doctor a couple of months back when he started getting headaches and was diagnosed with brain cancer.

By the time the surgeons operated, they removed a tumour the size of half an avocado

.In recovery, he’s kept close ties to Monday to Friday, Hughes gets chauffer-driven by a variety of close mates including local race horse trainer Kris Lees, Knights CEO Matt Gidley and Newcastle Old Boys president Troy Fletcher.

They take him to and from the Gosford Hospital for radiation treatment.

"I needed a car crew because I can’t drive at the moment so different blokes have been giving me lifts," Hughes said.

"A lot of people have been putting their hands up and that’s helped me stay strong and really positive.

"I haven’t touched alcohol in three or four months. My diet’s all greens, no sugar, no wheat, very little meat, I’ve just been doing all the reading to try and make me be as healthy as possible."

Hughes still finds time to train most days, swimming in the ocean baths or playing racquetball with great mate Ben Kennedy, another rock after the champion centre got diagnosed.

"The guy is a massive inspiration. I’ve never heard one negative comment from him the entire time. His calls in racquetball are a bit dubious, but he blames his sickness on his judgement," Kennedy said.

On Saturday night, Hughes has made the trip from his family’s Merewether home to Allianz Stadium with wife Kirralee and sons Zac, 9, and Dane, 5, hoping the Knights can continue their September roll.

He’s got his fingers-crossed best mate Danny Buderus can make another grand final.

"With Bedsy being my best mate it’s been great seeing him go on a run towards the finish that he deserves," Hughes said.

"The support from the boys has been overwhelming. Danny Buderus and his family have been excellent. Andrew Johns has been amazing, lots of trips from Sydney to Newcastle to help out.

"Then I’ve been getting phone calls and text messages from players I haven’t heard from for a long time just wishing me all the best."

It underlines the solidarity beating in the city of Newcastle. Hughes has three more weeks of radiation to go and then he starts on the chemotherapy.

"There’s a lot of wonderful support in so many research in other areas but I think the brain cancer probably mainly gets forgotten a little bit at times.

"That’s something that I’ll be working on once I dust myself off is that I’ll be creating awareness and helping raise funds."

Ex-Knights prop Luke Davico is currently walking Mt Everest to help raise money for brain cancer research. So far he’s reached $10,000. It’s just another small example of the strength of the people in steel city.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ith-brain-cancer/story-fni3gf5j-1226728803477
 
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always full of life on and of the field ... if he fights this with half the heart he played with, he will beat it he wasn't the best winger for the knights but he always gave it his all and that's wat made him a great player for newcastle
 
always full of life on and of the field ... if he fights this with half the heart he played with, he will beat it he wasn't the best winger for the knights but he always gave it his all and that's wat made him a great player for newcastle

He wasn't the best winger ... coz he was a centre! :p
 
Mark Hughes launches anti-cancer foundation


BARRY TOOHEY
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
MAY 07, 2014 12:00AM


BARELY two weeks after finishing six months of chemotherapy that he is confident has completely rid him of brain cancer, courageous former Newcastle Knight Mark Hughes launched his own Foundation to raise money for research into the deadly disease.

The former NSW State of Origin fullback and two-time premiership winner with the Knights had a tumour the size of an avocado removed from his brain in a lifesaving operation last August.

It signalled the start of a battle Hughes has been waging ever since.

But in typical Hughes fashion, he’s already turned his greatest challenge into his biggest triumph with the launch of the Mark Hughes Foundation.

“It’s been a long haul but I’m feeling really good,” Hughes said of his treatment on Tuesday.

“There were 33 sessions of radiation followed by six months of chemotherapy which I finished a couple of weeks ago.

“I’ve got a scan in a couple of weeks but the indications are it’s looking really positive so I’m very happy.

“The Foundation is the positive thing to come out of it all.

"Brain cancer found me for a reason and I’d like to think this is it.

“We are going to make a real difference.”

Some of Newcastle’s greatest players including the likes of Andrew Johns, Paul Harragon, Danny Buderus, Matt Gidley and Ben Kennedy were among those to attend the launch at the Hunter Valley Research Institute.

Johns said Hughes’s initial prognosis had stunned everyone.

“It was a real scary time for everyone but typically, it was Hughesy’s own strength which got all of us though,” Johns said.

“When he was first diagnosed, we were all in a state of shock.

"But he’s just been so strong and everyone’s pulled together and here we are today.

“It’s a real triumph for a great bloke.”

Harragon claimed Hughes has been an inspiration.

“He’s been given this devastating news but even before his treatment is finished, he’s set the ball rolling, launching a counter attack with his Foundation,” Harragon said.

“He’s created something so positive out of such a negative but that’s the sort of fella he is.”

The Mark Hughes Foundation is partnering with the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group and will undertake regular fundraising initiatives on an ongoing basis.

Even before the launch, the Foundation had raised more than $50,000.

“He doesn’t want to be known as Mark Hughes the footballer anymore,” close mate and Foundation ambassador Danny Buderus said.

“He wants to be known for his Foundation. That’s the sort of champion bloke he is.”


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ancer-foundation/story-fni3fbgz-1226907860707
 
Mark Hughes launches Foundation


By Matt Logue
Wed 7th May, 09:17AM



Mark Hughes has just faced the battle of his life, but you wouldn’t know it.

Smiling and joking around with his well-known wit, Hughes is a picture of positive vibes.

Flanked by his family, friends and former teammates like Ben Kennedy, Andrew Johns and Danny Buderus, the Newcastle Knights fan favourite confidently addresses a room of 50 guests in the HMRI Building at the John Hunter Hospital on Tuesday.

Hughes is on deck to officially launch his new Mark Hughes Foundation, an initiative formed in 2013 to raise funds and awareness for brain cancer.

It’s a non-profit organisation set up by Hughes and his wife Kirralee after the Club legend was diagnosed with brain cancer last year.

Hughes had a malignant tumour removed last August and has undergone six months of chemotherapy.

Now only two weeks after finishing the treatment, he is fully focused on making a difference with brain cancer via his foundation.

The 37-year-old father-of-three says it's an honour to launch his foundation and raise awareness for such a serious condition.

"I've just had wonderful support and the people here in this room have helped support me," Hughes said on Tuesday of his foundation, which will be partnered with the HMRI and the Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group.

"It's just a really proud day for me.

"The last couple of years I've been thinking I really need to find myself a charity, something to sink my teeth into.

"I've always helped other charities here and there, but I felt it was time I dedicated to something of my own."

Hughes has devoted plenty of time to his foundation, an extremely worthwhile cause when you look at the statistics.

Brain cancer is the leading cause in death for people under 40. It's the most complex cancer there is, but it's the most under-studied.

It also receives very little funding.

In 2012, for example, it only received three per cent of the Federal Governments funding.

That's why Hughes says his foundation was created to help with the survival rate and raise awareness.

"As it turned out brain cancer chose me and I knew that was my journey now," he continues.

"I was chosen to make a difference, which I can in my positions with lots of people and contacts.

"Then I put my thoughts into a plan. I wanted to come out of the treatment with a foundation and I wanted to come out of the
treatment healthier and we've certainly done that.

"It's not something that you'd expect your doctor to say that you've got brain cancer.

"It's quite confronting.

"I've been in doctors rooms where Neil Halpin (Knights doctor) has told me you need a knee or shoulder reconstruction or you've got to wear a neck brace.

"At the time I thought that was pretty shattering, but you quickly realise there are certainly more important things in life.

"This was very confronting and very tough, but I had a good team around me of family and friends who helped me through the tough times and now come out the other side."

The Foundation has only just been launched, but thanks to the help of a number of local businesses and close friends the initiative has already raised $50,000.

Hughes also confirms the foundation will be promoted at a Knights match-day later in the year, while they are also looking at having a 'Beanie for Brain Cancer' day for primary school aged children.

While there is plenty planned in the coming weeks and months, the two-time premiership winner stresses his foundation is all about the long-term.

"This is not something that's going to last a year or two years, this is long haul a bit like myself," he says with a grin.

It's this positive mindset that has no doubt helped Hughes pull through the tough times of his cancer treatment.

Because as difficult as the past year has been, the Kurri Kurri born flyer does everything with a smile.

He still swims in the ocean baths at Merewether every day, does hot yoga classes and regularly plays racquetball with his good mate Ben Kennedy.

Hughes' inspirational story is also having an impact on others, like former Knights prop and good mate Luke Davico who climbed Mt Everest last year to raise awareness for Mark’s foundation.

Recently retired Club legend Danny Buderus is also one of Hughes' close friends. Buderus has been named the inaugural ambassador of the Mark Hughes Foundation, a role the champion No.9 is extremely humbled to take on.

"I'm very honoured and privileged to be an ambassador for the foundation," Buderus says.

"I guess you could say it's a bit of a footy mentality that has helped Mark.

"Whenever you get injured or hurt in footy you see the specialist and you get your rehab program and I think that's the way that Mark has approached it.

"It has been very inspiring.

"Mark said he doesn't want to be known as the footballer now, he wants to be known for the Mark Hughes Foundation and that's just the type of person he is."

Hughes' resilient attitude just goes to show that the happiest people don't have the best of everything, they make the best of everything.

It's a motto our mate Mark 'Boozy' Hughes personifies every day.

Visit markhughesfoundation.com.au for more information or to make a donation.


http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2014/05/07/mark_hughes_launches_foundation.html
 
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