“I’ve decided to finish playing rugby officially, and I’ve decided to retire,” Suafoa said. <\/p>\n
“I was told the unfortunate news that my cancer had spread, and it was terminal now”<\/p>\n
Suafoa said he would be starting chemotherapy within the coming days. <\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, I won’t be playing, but I’ll be going through a different type of battle soon.” <\/p>\n
Auckland-born Suafoa was diagnosed with sarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer which affects connective tissue in the back, in November 2023. <\/p>\n
He continued to train whilst undergoing radiation therapy, even playing two matches for the Blues just months after surgery, before being forced to take a break.<\/p>\n
Suafoa returned to rugby in May 2024 after he was declared cancer-free, playing six matches with the Blues in their campaign that year, but received a second cancer diagnosis in 2025. <\/p>\n
![\"Cameron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cameron-suafoa-V4GXMY74NNHNVJ777U4FO6HMGY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Cameron Suafoa makes a break for the Blues against the Reds last season. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n
He played a total of 31 games with the Blues throughout his career, appearing in the M\u0101ori All Blacks squad in 2022 and having stints in NPC. <\/p>\n
Reflecting on his professional rugby journey, Suafoa said it had been a “dream come true” to wear the Blues jersey. <\/p>\n
“This team definitely holds a special place in my heart,” he said. <\/p>\n
“I’ve loved every minute of playing and just being in the environment, and just everything about this union and this club.<\/p>\n
He thanked everyone within the Blues for their support during his battle with cancer. <\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve appreciated everything like that, all the love everyone\u2019s shown. It means a lot and helps me get through some pretty dark days.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blues star Cameron Suafoa has announced his retirement from professional rugby following a terminal cancer diagnosis. In a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[33339,111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-361224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-blues","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361224","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=361224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}