{"id":372043,"date":"2026-04-09T23:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372043\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T23:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:28:08","slug":"blues-unite-in-bid-to-honour-cameron-suafoa-with-super-rugby-glory-after-terminal-cancer-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372043\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues unite in bid to honour Cameron Suafoa with Super Rugby glory after terminal cancer diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s a very strong awareness around, there\u2019s a lot of empathy, and I think the players are drawing strength from it as well,\u201d Cotter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what they\u2019re really focused on is making sure we go as far as we can in the season and take him with us for as long and far as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old was first diagnosed with sarcoma in November 2023, and he continued training and even played two matches while undergoing radiation treatment for six weeks between February and April in 2024.<\/p>\n

He was declared cancer-free in May 2024. <\/a>He played a total of six games in the Blues\u2019 title-winning season, while also featuring for North Harbour in the NPC.<\/p>\n

\"BluesBlues coach Vern Cotter. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Suafoa established himself as a key player in the Blues squad in 2025, playing in seven matches before revealing in May that the sarcoma had returned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He underwent intensive surgery to remove the tumour, with three ribs taken out, but the terminal diagnosis was a huge shock.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now retired from professional rugby and was set to begin chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately I won\u2019t be playing, but I\u2019ll be going through a different type of battle soon,\u201d Suafoa said in the social media post.<\/p>\n

Former North Harbour and Manu Samoa head coach Steve Jackson worked with Suafoa while he was coming through the ranks in the Blues\u2019 youth system.<\/p>\n

Jackson was back working at Harbour as an assistant and lured Suafoa to the province in 2021 after stints with Auckland and Tasman.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Herald, Jackson said he was shocked to hear the news and sent Suafoa a message of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling for him and shocked by the news, and I know he\u2019ll keep fighting,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Jackson coached Cameron Suafoa as he came through the ranks. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was first diagnosed to getting back to Blues training and getting surrounded by the boys, that\u2019s just the type of person that he is. He wouldn\u2019t tell you that he\u2019s doing things tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sent him a message just to say that we\u2019re thinking of him and let us know if there\u2019s anything that we could do to help him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson said it was clear early on that Suafoa was a natural leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a calm person, [he] never let anything get him down,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cHe just embodied what it was to be a Harbour man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suafoa, who was born and raised in Auckland, ended up playing 31 games for the Blues, 32 appearances for Harbour and one game for both Auckland and Tasman.<\/p>\n

He played one game for the M\u0101ori All Blacks in 2022.<\/p>\n

Last month, Suafoa married his long-term partner, Britt Hastings-Kutty.<\/p>\n

The Blues are coming off a bye and will face the Hurricanes in a top-of-the-table clash in Wellington on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere\u2019s a very strong awareness around, there\u2019s a lot of empathy, and I think the players are drawing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,665,1040,33339,53314,2534,1320,147030,49159,796,6440,6758,305,7568,78,8461,130,111,139,69,13572,42569,6327,2687,213,190042,313,30331,131,8229,61,8488,141952,147027,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-372043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-around","10":"tag-bid","11":"tag-blues","12":"tag-cameron","13":"tag-cancer","14":"tag-coach","15":"tag-cotter","16":"tag-determined","17":"tag-diagnosis","18":"tag-ever","19":"tag-glory","20":"tag-have","21":"tag-honour","22":"tag-in","23":"tag-lift","24":"tag-more","25":"tag-new-zealand","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-pacific","29":"tag-rallied","30":"tag-rugby","31":"tag-saying","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-suafoa","34":"tag-super","35":"tag-terminal","36":"tag-than","37":"tag-they","38":"tag-to","39":"tag-trophy","40":"tag-unite","41":"tag-vern","42":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372043","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=372043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}