Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cSeven weeks ago I was training the house down. You saw me, \u2018Gaz\u2019, I was fit as a fiddle and I was shooting the lights out on the golf course. A day later your life changes,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know, I was walking around with a ticking time bomb in my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s a great message for everyone, not just ex-footballers. For everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown and wife Kylie shared a photo on Instagram in March from the triple-premiership Lion\u2019s hospital bed announcing he\u2019d had surgery with a \u201cpositive outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 256-game great reflected on the emotional response from his three young children, Olivia, Macy and Jack, when he told them about his diagnosis.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Brown with a scar on his head after undergoing brain surgery. Picture: SuppliedSource: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
\u201cJack\u2019s 13, little Min is 11 and Olivia is 16,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiv\u2019s a bit like me, probably a bit stoic. Jack, even though he\u2019s a bit of a rugby league knockabout, he\u2019s the sensitive one of the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe come and gave me the biggest cuddle I\u2019ve ever copped from anyone. He had tears, he just wouldn\u2019t let go. He squeezed me that tight he nearly snapped me in half.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst thing you want to do in your life is break your kid\u2019s heart. It felt like you were on the precipice. I tell you what, I was ready to fight when I saw their faces after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown also recalled a more lighthearted conversion he had with father Brian, a former Fitzroy and Essendon player, when we shared the news.<\/p>\n
The two were forced to cancel a trip to the US for the Masters golf tournament last month … though Brian initially held out hope they could still make it!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial phone call, that was hard, too. Because Dad has lost Mum and I have to make that phone call,\u201d Brown said. <\/p>\n
\u201cGot to the end of it all, I explained it, I said: \u2018Mate, I\u2019m gonna\u2019 have go to Melbourne for surgery. I\u2019ve got a brain tumour\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had to take stock of it and there was a bit of silence on the phone \u2026 then he said: \u2018What do you reckon, do you reckon we will still make the Masters?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown is expected to return to Fox Footy TV screens in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown has opened up on his recovery from a \u201cticking time bomb\u201d brain tumour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,2095,64,63,689,55,639,684,130852,23165,3237,318330,318332,10145,9262,29991,318333,19052,135699,273336,647,2041,2067,677,318334,85,318331,5338,141330,18240,2614,660],"class_list":["post-658693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-brain-tumour","tag-brian","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-emotional-family-reaction","tag-emotional-reaction","tag-garry-lyon","tag-golf-course","tag-golf-tournament","tag-initial-phone-call","tag-jonathan-brown","tag-kylie","tag-low-grade-brain-tumour","tag-melbourne","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-rugby-league-knockabout","tag-sports","tag-telling-family","tag-the-gabba","tag-ticking-time","tag-ticking-time-bomb","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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