{"id":360904,"date":"2026-04-02T22:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/360904\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:00:08","slug":"blues-forward-cameron-suafoa-told-his-cancer-is-terminal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/360904\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues forward Cameron Suafoa told his cancer is terminal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4L8C2YP_230527Bluesv_Canes_LC_226_JPG.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"647\" alt=\"Cameron Suafoa in action for the Blues against the Hurricanes.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nCameron Suafoa, while playing for the Blues against the Hurricanes in May 2023.<br \/>\nPhoto: photosport\n<\/p>\n<p>Blues forward Cameron Suafoa has shared heartbreaking news.<\/p>\n<p>In a video released overnight by the Blues, Suafoa, who&#8217;s just 27, has announced he won&#8217;t play again after receiving the worst possible update on his ongoing battle with cancer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just wanted to give you a little bit of an update on my situation,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve decided to finish playing rugby officially, decided to retire, (with) the unfortunate news that my cancer had spread and it was terminal now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Suafoa was first diagnosed in November 2023 with high-grade sarcoma, a form of cancer in his connective tissue, and underwent six weeks of radiation treatment after an operation removed a malignant tumour in his back.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4KPHUJE_suafoa_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"638\" alt=\"Cameron Suafoa during a Blues training session. Super Rugby Pacific, Alexandra Park, Auckland, New Zealand. Tuesday 28 May 2024. \u00a9 Photo credit: Andrew Cornaga \/ www.photosport.nz\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nCameron Suafoa at a Blues training session in 2024.<br \/>\nPhoto: Andrew Cornaga\/www.photosport.nz\n<\/p>\n<p>But following a successful recovery, he returned to rugby, playing and captaining North Harbour in the NPC in 2024, before securing a spot back in the Blues for the 2025 Super Rugby season, becoming a regular starter.<\/p>\n<p>But after a second cancer diagnosis, he was forced to sit out the 2025 NPC season.<\/p>\n<p>He will continue to fight.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will be going through a different type of battle soon so I start having chemo in the coming days,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Suafoa, who was born and raised in Auckland. ended up playing 31 games for the Blues, while also having stints with Tasman and Auckland in NPC rugby.<\/p>\n<p>He played one game for the Maori All Blacks in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was everything,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was defInitely the best job in the world. There is nowhere else you can sit with your work colleagues, have a yarn, and go out with everyone working towards a same goal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s not too many workplaces that feel like it&#8217;s a family &#8230;. and defintely will miss it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Blues said they would continue to send all their love, thoughts and support to Suafoa, his wife Britt and the rest of his wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Suafoa, while playing for the Blues against the Hurricanes in May 2023. Photo: photosport Blues forward Cameron&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-360904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}