{"id":401239,"date":"2026-04-28T08:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/401239\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T08:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:37:08","slug":"kiwi-rugby-league-player-jay-barnett-urges-others-get-checked-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/401239\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi rugby league player Jay Barnett urges others: \u2018Get checked early\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">His long-term prognosis has improved since undergoing weekly chemotherapy treatment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe five-year survival odds have increased to 50 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">His leg is now unlikely to be amputated, but he is expected to receive radiation and rehabilitation following a surgery to remove the cancer from his leg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Barnett will then undergo surgery to remove the cancer from his lungs.<\/p>\n<p>  <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@keepjaylowkeyy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@keepjaylowkeyy?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@keepjaylowkeyy<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>After the video the boys posted yesterday the word is out. I\u2019ve been diagnosed with a rare cancer called Ewing sarcoma. Started in my calf and has sadly spread to the lung so I\u2019ll be doing chemo for hopefully around 8 months. Grateful for all the support around me and these two shaving their heads was unreal. Love you wh\u0101nau. <a title=\"fyp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/fyp?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#fyp<\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c Free Mind - Tems\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/Free-Mind-6873824583519045634?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\u266c Free Mind &#8211; Tems<\/a>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI definitely wish I got my lump checked out sooner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">He urged others to be aware of the early signs of the serious illness and not to hold off on going to doctor: \u201cThe quicker, the better\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt could be the difference between survival and death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">The Gold Coast-based sportsman moved to Australia four years ago to pursue a career in league and has played for the Burleigh Bears.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cCancer has given me a different perspective on life,\u201d he told the Daily Mail. \u201dEvery day I wake up, I take a deep breath and realise that life is not as hard as it could be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Barnett is working four days a week as a plumber to cover his costs as he is not an Australian citizen and can\u2019t claim support from the Government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">He said the help of his family and friends, who have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/a-dollar-a-day-keeps-the-sarcoma-away\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/a-dollar-a-day-keeps-the-sarcoma-away\">raised $42,440 for his medical bills<\/a>, had helped him cope with the diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe support has been extremely overwhelming &#8211; it has taken away a lot of the pressure and stress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His long-term prognosis has improved since undergoing weekly chemotherapy treatment. \u201cThe five-year survival odds have increased to 50&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1443,149286,9442,2534,33017,796,7061,2245,1333,46346,194,14731,111,139,69,1864,2682,9617,91377,6327,213,5433,223,11226,3552,102],"class_list":["post-401239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-about","tag-barnett","tag-better","tag-cancer","tag-checked","tag-diagnosis","tag-doctor","tag-early","tag-get","tag-jay","tag-kiwi","tag-league","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opened","tag-others","tag-player","tag-quicker","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-stage","tag-the","tag-urged","tag-urges","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401239","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=401239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}