A Chat w/ Adam Johnson - Resilience, Family and the Cronulla Sharks Community

[00:00:01] The Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking is a hidden gem of the Shire, situated on the banks of the beautiful Port Hacking. It's a great place to catch up with friends, celebrate your birthday or any special occasion, and they always show the NRL live on the big screens. The RMYC Port Hacking, proud sponsors of this podcast and big supporters of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. Check out their website rmycph.com.au

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[00:00:55] Hey there, welcome to SharkCastPod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. This show is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking, and Jason Hawes of Crips & Crips Real Estate. My name is Sam Shinazzi, I'm an OG from 2015, and since 2015 I've been trying to tell stories about this club.

[00:01:24] Today we've got a beauty for you, and it revolves around an awesome Sharks family. And I urge you all just to listen to this entire episode because we're going to talk all things Sharks, and we're going to talk about fundraising, and we're going to talk about just some real life stuff, and I can't wait to get into it. My guest today, he is a long-time, long-term Sharks member. He sits up in the upper Andrew Ettinghausen stand, part of the ivory tower himself.

[00:01:52] He and his mates have gotten together for a very good cause, very close to his heart, which we'll talk about. But Adam, welcome to the show, my friend. How are you? I'm well, Sam. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure. Now, there are rumors abound that you're an OG SharkCast listener. I am, mate. Yeah, all the way back from 2015 when Adam was on board. Yeah, love the show. Awesome. Well, it's great to have you on. Why don't we just talk a little bit about why you're here?

[00:02:20] Let's talk about you and your family, and particularly Liam, and what's going on. Yeah, it's been an eventful couple of years for Liam and my family. My family consists of my wife, Ez, and I've got three young boys, Jack, Will, and Liam being the youngest. And unfortunately for Liam, in June of 2024, he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

[00:02:47] So as you could imagine, that rocked the family, and it's been a bit of a troubling time since. But you know, he's finished his treatment, and he's on the mend. Excellent news. And we're here to talk about a few different charities and organizations that all meld into one. So it's the Mark Hughes Foundation. This weekend coming up, it's Beanies for Brain Cancer Round, and specifically the Big Three Trek.

[00:03:12] So you and your mates, and a whole bunch of other people, including the goat, Paul Gowan, are going to walk from Sydney to Newcastle to raise money for such a great cause. Tell us a bit about that, and then we'll get into some Sharks history with your family and your life, because that's all kind of centered around this. But tell us about the Big Three Trek. This is the sixth version of the Big Three Trek, obviously started six years ago by Luke Alexander and some of his friends.

[00:03:40] They unfortunately lost their soccer coach to brain cancer, and they decided to do something about it. So me and seven mates have jumped on board this year. There's 85 participants this year. It's the biggest year yet. And like you said, it's a big trek. It's 150 kilometers starting at NRL headquarters. We kick off 5am Friday morning.

[00:04:04] And over three days, we make our way up north all the way to, I was going to say McDonald Jones Stadium, but it's McDonald Jones Stadium these days in Newcastle. So we get there at 3.30 just before kickoff and do a bit of a lap of honor before the Knights West Tigers game. Oh, awesome.

[00:04:24] Now we will put links everywhere attached with this show, but just as a heads up, people listening straight away, how can they contribute financially if they're able to? Yeah, there's a couple of ways. You can obviously beanie for brain cancer round. You can get out there and buy a beanie and wear that as a footy in support of this great cause. If you wanted to support the big, big three trek directly, you can jump on, jump online, do a bit of a Google search big three trek 6.0.

[00:04:55] That'll take you to their website. And our team in particular, who we're doing our best to raise money for is called Team LJ. And I've got to say the Cronulla Sutherland community has just been incredible in their support. I got a phone call from Mark Hughes himself yesterday afternoon. And, you know, we've broken all records in our fundraising efforts this year.

[00:05:19] And I can honestly say that, you know, and I say this from the depth of my heart, that this community that we live in, Sam, has just been incredible with their support. They're so generous. You know, so many people, whether it's a schooling community or the sporting clubs, we've got Harryman, Harryman Brewing Company. They've jumped on board. Just so many wonderful people. Yeah. It's been, it's been incredible. We're certainly very fortunate that we live in this, this wonderful part of the world. Yeah.

[00:05:49] Well said. Well said, Adam. And I couldn't agree more. We all come together in times like this, and this is a great reason to do so. So the other thing I was going to say, Adam, if people can't contribute financially, that is a reality in these, in this day and age. Share your pages around, share the charity around on the social media. There's different ways you can do it. I'm certainly not suggesting don't donate money because that would be the best thing you can do. But if of course you can't, there are other ways to do it.

[00:06:16] Even if you share this podcast around with your mates, if you share the links to the big three track to being in your brain cancer, Mark Hughes foundation, all that will help. So there are ways you can help in different ways. And I'm certainly really glad that the shark community has really put their arms around your family. I know you've been a supporter for a long time. I know that the club themselves a year or two ago really cheered up you guys. Do you want to talk us through that? Yeah, they did.

[00:06:45] So, so Vin Tran from the Sharks Have Heart group, they, they reached out and they, they did a beautiful video tribute, which was put on Instagram and Facebook and the likes on all the socials of just a really nice day that we got to spend with the sharks. Um, Liam was guest of honor. So we attended training and then he got the jump in the team photo for, um, for the year. So, you know, he still talks about that day. It was really special.

[00:07:10] And I should make note that, that both Vin and Marty Kennedy, who's on the sharks board, they, they reached out again this year. They, you know, they heard about our story and, and, you know, they've asked what, what else can we do to help? So they're doing a couple of things in the, uh, that are in the pipeline at the moment, but they sent out a lovely meta by a lovely letter, I should say by the shark socials last week. Just again, you know, raising, raising more awareness and, and, and asking everybody to jump on board our fundraising campaign. So yeah, the shark has been incredible. Yeah.

[00:07:40] I know Vin personally, he's an amazing man and sharks have heart are an awesome organization. So that is great to hear. Now what we're going to do, Adam, for our listeners is we want to take them on a journey, uh, a bit of a, this is your life. But shark related. And we're going to wind back into, of course, the reason we're here, which is to talk about your beautiful son, Liam, your beautiful family and how we can help and your journey and that kind of thing. But let's start back with you. Uh, what was your, what was the first year you remember supporting the sharks? When we, when did you sort of really get into it?

[00:08:10] I think I was in kindergarten. So way back in the late eighties. Um, I remember, I remember going to shark part with my dad and a couple of dads from, um, with that would now the fathers of my best mates at school. Um, they probably would have been a similar age to what I am now. So we were normally perched outside of the summertime bar and the days were having a good time.

[00:08:35] Um, I don't know how much footy we were watching, but we would, we'd, um, we'd get on the cardboard boxes and roll down the hill back to the, um, out, out the back where the man goes there. So yeah, it was, I think it was called, um, Caltex back then, maybe even, yeah, probably Caltex. So yeah, going back to the late eighties, a long, long, long time ago. And when, when do you think you started really taking it all in?

[00:08:57] Like when you were watching the game and was it, was it when you were a teenager or in between the time we're talking about what, what kind of year could you give us? Yeah, definitely, definitely early nineties. All us boys, we all played footy, you know, when we were sort of six, seven years old, obviously, you know, you just, just running around having a good time back then. But I, I genuinely remember being in sort of year five, year six, and just really passionately caring about the outcomes, watching the sharks.

[00:09:24] You know, I used to love ET, uh, Mark McGore, speechily, all those guys, Kurt Wrigley, some of the greats. Yep. Okay. So late eighties, early nineties kind of jam. Uh, that's awesome. Give us, we'll just go there straight away. Give us who's your, have you got an all time favorite? Can you pin it down? Yeah. Yeah. Without a doubt. Um, well I've got to, I've got to be fair. Um, I, I grew up idolizing ET. Mm-hmm. Uh, I just love the way he played footy. You know, I was a center.

[00:09:52] All I wanted to do was be like ET, you know, and it didn't, didn't quite work out for me, but he, he was, he was amazing to watch. Um, and look, good old gal, like, you know, for us guys, we've been watching the sharks a long time, you know, especially 2013, 2014, when the club was just going through so much heartache. He, he really carried the club on his back through that time.

[00:10:16] And, you know, I, I don't think we would have, we would have ever have won, you know, the grand final in 2016. If he just, um, if he didn't stand up the way he did. Yeah. It was incredible leadership that he showed. And, you know, as a longtime supporter, I'll never forget that. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to split those two guys as the goats. And, uh, as a spoiler for people listening, there is confirmation that the goat Paul Gallen will be on the big three track.

[00:10:43] So you might be able to power past him at some point and, and he'll see that and he'll want to power past you because he's the most competitive man that ever lived. And you'd be able to good, good chat there. I reckon. Yeah, mate, I'll grab him for sure. I'm, I'm doing this walk with four, four other long-term sharks, uh, sharks members. So yeah, he, he won't get past this without, um, at least one of the boys grabbing, grabbing onto him. That's so cool. If I take 2016 out of the equation, do you have a favorite season that comes to mind?

[00:11:12] I know it's a random question, but. Yeah. Look, 1999 was incredible. Yeah. Didn't finish the way we wanted, but I love that year. And, you know, I, I almost resent the dragons even more. I knew we'd get along, Adam. I knew we'd get along. You know, if you, if you go back to 99, I still remember being at shark park. I think, I think we had 23,000.

[00:11:40] Um, you know, it's, it's probably still a ground record. Like we got, we got them, we got them at shark park and that was an incredible game. And that drama seemed to follow both teams all year. Uh, and that was sort of the height of the local Derby. I think I don't know if we've ever, if it's ever been as good. Um, especially the way the dragons have played the last 10 years, they've been dead set ordinaries. So they've got a job to do. They've got to get the local Derby back to, to where it should be. But yeah, 99 was, was brilliant for me.

[00:12:10] Let's go to 2016. When did you purchase your tickets for the, for the GF? I'm assuming you were there. I'm just going to assume it. When did you buy your tickets? I was at the North Queensland Cowboys semifinal. Oh, sorry. The, the, the, the, the Sharks, the Cowboy prelim, I should say. Sorry. The game, the game finished. We walked straight out. I can't remember what pub we went to. We were just, we were just that excited. Um, ordered a round of drinks and then sat down and said, righto, we've got to get our tickets.

[00:12:38] So an hour after the game, we were locked and loaded, ready to go. Tell us about the feeling when you realized we'd won that prelim. Wasn't so much relief. We were just so, so excited to be, you know, in a grand final. As you know, like that game was all but over 15 minutes into the second half. Yeah. Um, and, uh, James Maloney running away for that intercept try was, was, I think obviously that was the moment we all, we all just knew. We all just knew. Yeah.

[00:13:06] The Cowboys scored a couple of tries later in the game, but it was, it was done and dusted. And it was very unusual, you know, to be a shark supporter heading into a grand final. The way we were most semifinal experiences I've ever had. It had just been nail biting and edgier seat type stuff where we just got to enjoy the last 20 minutes of a prelim and celebrate. So certainly, certainly unique as a Sharks fan, but yeah, one of the great experiences.

[00:13:31] I've told the story often on the show, but when he took that intercept, I had an out of body experience just watching it in slow motion. And I remember the feeling, I was just like this fuzzy, almost numb feeling watching it in slow motion. Cause I realized what it meant. Uh, one of the great moments in, uh, in shark history. That's for sure. And where were you sitting for the big GF? Big grand final. Uh, we were down the end where Andrew for feet has scored his try.

[00:13:57] So yeah, we were sitting on the 10 meter line. Um, and I still remember that play and all the Sharks fans, you know, jumping out of their seats, going berserk. And I never saw the ball go down. Right. So I, I was terrible, uh, terrified. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened and why we, why we so excited. Surely he couldn't have got it down. He's got five players on him. Yeah. The rest is history, but yeah, yeah, that's where we were. Yeah. Nice.

[00:14:25] And did you end up back at the club that night or what did you do afterwards? Yeah. Yeah. We ended up back at the club, had an all nighter there. We were clever enough to fill a, one of the, a Ute actually, we filled a Ute with it in a, parked it in the leagues club parking lot, had our fun in the leagues club, celebrated with all the players and then, um, ventured back into, into the car park to keep going. I reckon, I reckon I might've secretly had one with you.

[00:14:52] I remember having a few drinks like that with some, some very smart people going, oh, this is amazing. It was one of the great nights. They're probably the greatest night actually. And, uh, tell us about your, uh, you're a real estate owner in the upper Andrew Eddinghausenstown. Have you been there the whole time or what you, when did you first move there? Yeah. We, we started in the, in the lower ET, um, lower ET section, I think early two thousands.

[00:15:17] Um, I can't remember what year it was, but sharks had a stinker and someone from the club called us and said, do you want to upgrade your tickets in the upper ET? There was eight of us at the time, I think. And, you know, we all, we'd all played, we'd all played footy with or against each other for years, great, great bunch of mates. And yet we jumped at it, you know, and it's the best thing we've ever done. Watch your footy run, hail or shine, enjoy beer, great seats. Can't beat it. Yeah. It's a similar story to me. I was down there for one year in 2004.

[00:15:48] I can't remember the circumstances, but yeah, we, my brother and I had the chance to have a look around and that, and we just happened to see, uh, my beautiful seats where they are now. And we just grabbed them. We're like, is this some sort of joke? This is unbelievable. Yeah. We'll take these two and, and have a look back, but yeah, it's a great place to watch footy. Tell me about your favorite coach. Who's your favorite coach in sharks history? Love Johnny Lang. You know, that, that, that, that was a great time in our club's history.

[00:16:14] You know, back then I sort of felt like we were everybody's second favorite team. We, we, we played footy with the right mix of, you know, aggression and good spirit, but we were, we were so entertaining to watch, you know, ET and Rogers and David Peachy, you know, every game you went to, you knew we were in the contest. We played the footy in its right fashion, but it was always entertaining. Um, and yeah, I love Johnny Lang and it was such a, such a shame to see him leave.

[00:16:44] And obviously he's had great, great success with Pembroke after that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you there. And have you enjoyed the Fitzgibbon era so far? Oh, I'm a huge fan. Yeah. I love it. I think he's probably been, you know, I, I loved Flano as well. And I thought he did an incredible job. Obviously premiership winning coach, but yeah, there, there, there's a bit of depth to Fitzy, you know, what he's brought to this club.

[00:17:10] I don't think the club in general has been as professional, uh, and an impressive sort of on and off the field as it has been with any other coaches, you know, he's, he's really got the boys in tune and in line. And, um, there's a, there's a lot of respect for Fitzgibbon, um, from the greater football community. And I think we're, yeah, we're, we're lucky to have him. I think. Let's jump into some Liam action. So Liam is your youngest son, correct? Yeah, I've got, I've got three boys and, and Liam's, Liam's my youngest.

[00:17:38] So he, he's, uh, he's turning eight in a week. Okay. So that's very topical because from all the things I've read and seen about Liam, he was told that he had brain cancer on his sixth birthday. Is that correct? Yeah, that's, that's correct. Um, Liam had been unwell during, um, the majority of early 2024.

[00:18:04] Um, you know, a lot of tests were undertaken, um, trying to sort of work through this maze of different types of issues that he was having. Um, but primarily we thought it was a stomach problem. Um, now my wife was incredibly impressive, you know, during this ordeal and, you know, mother's intuition is an amazing thing. Um, she questioned doctors and she advocated for her son continuously.

[00:18:31] And, you know, without going into all the details, she knew there was something else up. Um, and I think it was Friday, the 21st of June, she saw a neurologist and they, they instantly said, something's not right here. Let's do a couple of extra checks. Um, and they had us booked in for a, an MRI on the 24th of June, three days later. Um, and Liam didn't leave the hospital after that day.

[00:19:01] He, he went in for his MRI. They discovered what was at that point in time, a tumor. We didn't know the, the finer details of what we were dealing with, but there was a tumor on his brain. Um, and then 25th of June, the very next day he had emergency brain surgery to, to remove the tumor. So yeah, Liam's life and our lives were sort of turned upside down in an instant. And tell us about Liam.

[00:19:28] Was he just your normal everyday run around kid playing sport cheeky or that kind of thing? Just very normal kind of kid. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful young boy. Um, you know, you touch on there very cheeky. He had two older brothers that he was always, always chasing wrestling, fighting with entertaining. Um, love this sport, love these LA's love, love getting away with his family. Um, yeah. Quintessential little Aussie kid. Yeah. He was a beauty. Cause the, all the things that you've sent me and things I've seen online and obviously

[00:19:58] with the outcome, he has this, uh, resilience and spirit about him. Tell me what was, what was it like? Just, you said that he was operated a day later. Like what was it like in that 12 to 24 hours? Look for, for Liam, I guess him being so young and you know, he's always grown up with, you know, being told what to do by mum and dad. Now, unfortunately on those days we were telling him he's got to listen to the doctors and we've

[00:20:24] got to do a couple of things, but the enormity of what he was facing, um, obviously hadn't dawned on him. He was never going to understand that. So managing that process with Liam wasn't too bad, but, um, yeah, for as an idea, get our heads around the fact that yeah, our, our son was going into emergency brain surgery and was dealing with an uncertain future was yeah. Yeah. Horrific. It's the worst nightmare.

[00:20:52] I, I struggled to even, I can't comprehend, but I struggled to even get through some of the things you've sent me cause it's so just so intense for everyone involved, but I'm so grateful that as a spoiler again, there is a, a good outcome for the moment. Like he's doing great now, but this is about the journey and this is about raising awareness and raising money. How, how long was it from, from that time until he got out of hospital cause he's in hospital for a long time, right?

[00:21:21] He was, he was, he was in hospital. I think he was in, um, intensive care for at least seven days. Um, and while he was in intensive care, they were, they were doing testing on his tumor to determine what we were dealing with. Um, so he was in intensive care for seven days. And, and during this period, he actually lost the ability to, to walk and talk. Um, yeah.

[00:21:50] Um, a side effect and a, and a risk of the surgery. Um, and that, that was something that we had to deal with and you touched on it before. Um, we found out that Liam or Liam's tumor was in fact brain cancer on his sixth birthday. Yeah. And, and during this time, yeah, he, he had, he, he'd lost the ability to talk and walk.

[00:22:17] Um, which is exceptionally challenging. You know, he was okay, even though he couldn't quite communicate, he was, he was dealing with it okay, but poor, poor, um, poor mom and dad just were, were up against it at that point in time. And, you know, I'll, I'll never forget just, just sitting in the, in the room with him. Um, and yeah, he, he, he's our beautiful little boy. He's just turned six. We're supposed to be celebrating his birthday.

[00:22:46] And we've got to explain it, explain to him that he's just been doing a brain cancer diagnosis. And how long was he unable to walk and talk for? We were, we were really fortunate here. Um, these symptoms can last months. Um, and there were no signs indicating that these symptoms were going to change anytime soon. Uh, but luckily for us, it lasted about a week. Lasted about a week.

[00:23:13] Um, I'll never forget the moment we, Erin had finally had an opportunity to get out of the hospital. Um, she, she was having a haircut. She was looking after herself for the first time in weeks. And I was just there with Liam. I'd taken him for a wheelchair ride around the hospital. Those who don't know it's Sydney children's hospital. Um, the train, the tram lines pull up out the front. So we went outside there. We were checking out the trams. We came back to our room. We read some books.

[00:23:43] Um, and out of the blue without notice, Liam asked for yogurt. Um, and I tell you, I, I, I, I've never been more excited to grab a tube of yogurt or whatever it was that I gave him, gave him my life. So you think he realized when he said, can I have some yogurt dad? Did he think, do you think he realized how momentous it was or not really? No, I think it was lost on him. He's probably one of them.

[00:24:11] He was probably wondering why dad was crying so much when, you know, all he was doing was asking for some food, but yeah, it was, it was an amazing moment. And you know, I was able to call my wife who was at the hairdressers. So I think Erin was crying. Everyone in the salon was crying. Yeah. It was a, it was a beautiful, beautiful moment. Excuse this ignorant question. Did the walking come straight away or did he have to, did he have to learn how to walk or what, how, how is that? How did that evolve?

[00:24:38] Again, it came back quicker than we'd ever anticipated. Um, obviously step by step slowly. Um, you know, he, he, he was back walking, uh, in a matter of weeks, but it was not like a little bit of a walk. Um, it wasn't without his challenges and, and that's something where that's something we're still, still building, building on now. He's part of me. He's back playing soccer.

[00:25:08] He's back running around with his friends, but there's a, there's, there's a few cognitive issues there that were, that were working through. But yeah. Um, yeah, he's come a long, long way. Did the doctors tell you that that was any kind of indication about it was good, good signs ahead or was it just not related? It was just like, he, he only was struggling with those things for a couple of weeks as opposed to a few months back to the brain issue. Was there any, was there any positivity there as far as the brain cancer? Was it connected?

[00:25:35] No, um, correlation to the brain cancer itself, but, but certainly good in terms of, of recovery. Now you've got two other sons who are older than Liam. Tell us about their journey. Cause that, I know it hasn't been good, good for anyone, but tell us about those two fellows. Yeah. And that was, that was different again. Right. You know, they had their young youngest brother at home, you know, side by side with them for their, for the entirety of Liam's life and the majority of theirs.

[00:26:03] And one day he's gone and he's, he's been rushed off the hospital. And I think Will was, Will was eight at the time and Jack was 10. Um, so they're a bit older, they're working out something's not right. There were plenty of questions there, which mum and dad answered as best we could at the time. You know, it was, it was important that we were truthful with them.

[00:26:27] Um, but at the same time we, we had to protect them and they, we had to tell them that Liam was in hospital and what was happening was, was dangerous and it was a worry, but he was with the right people and in the best care. Um, and at the same time we could only tell him what we knew as well. And it was a sort of ever expanding situation. Um, but it was extremely challenging for them. They, you know, they, they were too young to be dealing with a situation like this.

[00:26:57] And it would have been hard for them to, to understand why, why their brother can't come home. Um, and especially with our oldest son, you know, he worked out in time that something was majorly wrong. And, and we had to work, work through that with them. But at the same time, we had to make sure that their lives moved forward. You know, they, they were school, school kids, so they had to get to school and it was important that they, they had that social connection with their friends and they continued to play sport

[00:27:25] and, um, see their teammates on every weekend. Um, so just maneuvering through those challenges was, yeah, it was tough for it, tough for everyone. And how does that work as a family? Obviously you would have had, I would hope help from extended family friends, et cetera. But if you're still getting kids to weekend sport while Liam's in hospital going through this horrendous thing, like how does that work for you and your, and your wife? Oh, look, it was a challenge for us, no doubt.

[00:27:52] Um, but you're, you're, you know, you're a father, Sam, and, and, and, you know, I'm sure that, okay, well, you just, you do whatever you've got to do to make it work. Cause that's, that's what we signed up for. Right. Um, and you touched on it earlier, the support that we got from, you know, our schooling community, you know, the boys go to St. Joseph's at Como, the, the parents and the teachers and the staff and the principal there were just incredible.

[00:28:18] Uh, in, you know, whether it was the, the mum, mums and parents getting together and making sure dinner was on the table for our boys or the boys got to their soccer or football games or got picked up from school.

[00:28:31] And, and the greater, the greater sort of Cronulla Southern community were the same, you know, whether it was footy or soccer or whatever it might've been, everybody around us really, really rallied and, and just made sure that we could continue to make sure Liam got the care that he got. But yeah, our two boys sort of kept moving forward as well. Was you or your wife, was one of you always with Liam the whole time? Yep.

[00:28:57] Every, every single day, Sam, either, either as, or myself, or often both of us were there. And, you know, one thing that's dawned on me through, throughout this, um, is that it's so many families who aren't afforded that luxury. You know, we, we live in Janali, which is a 35, 40 minute drive to the children's hospital in Ramwick.

[00:29:21] Um, there was so many nights there when we were in the oncology ward or parts of the hospital and there was mums or dads who had been, been in the hospital with their sick children for, for weeks on end. And, you know, the other parent was out in another part of rural New South Wales working, you know, and, and they, they didn't have that luxury of being able to be bedside with their children. Um, you know, which, which break broke our hearts.

[00:29:48] Um, and it was just such a poignant reminder of, you know, why we are so lucky to live where we live. Yeah, for sure. Let's give some praise to, uh, the, the people that run these, the hospital and the kids hospital and the nurses and the volunteers. And like, I mean, thank God I haven't had anything to do with it, but I, I've heard so many great things about this, these, these places.

[00:30:11] Oh, they're, they're, they're the most incredible people in the world, Sam, you know, the, the, the doctors are just, just incredible in, in, in how, how they treat, you know, young, young cancer patients and, and how they work through these situations with families. But at the same time, you know, the nurses and the staff that are there with the patients all day, every day, they are unsung heroes.

[00:30:36] You know, they, what, what they see and what they have to deal with on a daily basis is, is just so traumatizing. And to think that they roll their sleeves up and do that day on day, week on week is exceptional. They're, they are amazing people. Talk us through the rest of Liam's journey. So he, he had chemotherapy and radiation, the whole, the works. Yeah, he, he did. He did.

[00:31:01] So I guess the first point there is that, you know, not, not all brain cancers, um, have treatment. And Liam was really fortunate that there was, that there's a proven treatment for his, his particular type of brain cancer, which is, which is a form of medullabastoma. Um, so that involved, uh, six weeks of radiation. So that was, and it was amazing, Liam, that the radiation was, um, five days in a row.

[00:31:31] We, we, um, for a week and then we'd have the weekends off, but we'd, we'd pick him up from school at, at 1pm in the afternoon. We'd, we'd drive down to the hospital. He'd, he'd have his radiation treatment. We'd normally be home by five o'clock. And he did this every day for six weeks without missing a session nor missing a day at school. I was going to say like, as he repeated or something, but he was going to school. Yeah, he, he returned to school.

[00:31:59] Um, and again, the, the support that our, our school and community sort of gave us was, was amazing. And the teachers and the support staff just worked tirelessly to, to help him, you know, obviously there were challenges there, but they, they were up for the challenge. They, they accommodated that and, and really helped him through the whole time. And it was very, it was made very clear to us by, um, our team at Sydney children's hospital that Liam needs to go to school.

[00:32:28] It won't be easy, but the best thing we can do is, is find a way to get him there. And, you know, the expectation was that he'd miss a few days of school because the radiation's, um, that's pretty heavy treatment, right? Um, he'd be tired. He'd be feeling the effects of that treatment, especially as we got further progressed. Um, but no, he, he stuck at it and yeah, he, he didn't miss a beat. He's, um, he's tough as an old leather boot. That's one. That's ridiculous.

[00:32:56] I guess, did it help take his mind off things a little bit or? Yeah. Look, it was a good distraction for sure. You know, I, uh, his brothers were going to school, so it was good for Liam to see his brothers. You know, if that's where they, they were, that's probably where he wanted to be. But at such a young age too, he was still learning and building those social connections that, that, that kids, that kids build in, in, in kindergarten and anyone.

[00:33:23] So it was important that he was there in, in some capacity. And, and yeah, I think it was, it was very helpful. How did the other little guys and girls in, in the class and in his school react? Cause I, I guess not every school goes through that every year, for example, hopefully, you know, God, it's, it's, I know it's very prevalent in this day and age, but some schools probably wouldn't experience that before. No, it was certainly a new experience for, for most of the kids at, at Joey's, um, and camp quality were great there too.

[00:33:53] So they came in, they, they did a puppet show, um, two versions, one for kids, um, kindergarten of year three, and then a, a little bit more, um, in depth version for the year five, uh, four, four to six students, um, explaining not necessarily what was happening with Liam, but what, what can happen to, to kids when they, when they have radiation and chemotherapy or, or, or battle cancer. Um, so that was good for the, for the kids. Um, at least it gave them a little bit of an insight into what Liam was dealing with.

[00:34:23] Um, but for, but for most part, mate, the kids just jumped on board and they treated him as, as they would any of the other friends. And was the chemo therapy sessions, uh, similar or was it, did he react worse or how did that go? Yeah. The, the chemo is different to the radiation therapy. Um, it's pretty brutal. It's, it's very harsh on the body. Um, but he, he showed the same resilience, which was, which was quite incredible.

[00:34:52] He, he had four rounds of chemotherapy that he had to undertake as part of his treatment and, and they would last 28 days each. Um, but the caveat being that this, this treatment would, would make Liam very sick. Um, so the likelihood of being able to have four of these treatments in a row or four of these cycles in a row was very unlikely. Um, four lots of 28, you know, quite sort of four months roughly.

[00:35:20] And the expectation was that the treatment would probably take anywhere from six to seven months. Um, but true to form, he, he knocked it out in four consecutive months. Um, yeah, which, which was just amazing for obviously fantastic outcome for Liam. Um, but it was also, you know, it's an extremely distressing time. And it was nice to know that we got through that as quick as we could.

[00:35:47] Does that mean there was a better chance that chemo would work and work better or work quicker? Oh, I can't comment, comment on that with any certainty, to be honest. But, um, look, the treatment went as well, it could, as well as it could possibly go. So you, you've got to, um, take some confidence out of that. Yeah. Nice. And so how long after you finished chemo, like what was the next process? There was a wait and, and then was it like, when did he get me all clear?

[00:36:16] How long after the last day of chemo? Yeah. Good, good question. I think chemo finished in February. So off the top of the head, the follow-up was maybe, maybe late Feb. And that, that involved his first set of, um, MRIs. So they do a, do a brain and spinal MRI. And they, they do a series of blood tests. Um, and they all came back NED, which is, which is no evidence of disease.

[00:36:44] So I, I guess he was cancer-free, um, from late Feb. And, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's managed to stay the, stay that way since. So within a month almost, give or take, you had some good results. Yeah. Well, it's, um, it's pretty black and white, this stuff. And it's either good or bad. And, and yeah, we got, we got the results we're after. Were you given any indication as what the results would be? To a degree. Uh, yes.

[00:37:12] Some of, some of the testing that they were, they were able to do now on, on the tumors is, is incredible. Um, and they, they were able to tell us that, um, with treatment, there's a 90% chance that, um, Liam's brain tumor never returns. So in, when it comes to brain cancer, uh, reoccurrence is typically high. Um, so to be given numbers like that was amazing.

[00:37:40] Cause that's unfortunately not every family's that lucky. Um, so we knew we were dealing with a tumor that was potentially, or should respond well to treatment. Yeah. But, you know, you, you live with that uncertainty. Yeah. Not 90, 90% is great, but there's still that scary 10% chance that, you know, things could, could go the other way.

[00:38:08] So end of February, given the good news, we're in June now, talk us through Liam's past three or four months. I guess it's just steps getting back to normality. Talk us through that. Yeah. Look, he, he basically returned to school, um, in February of, uh, what are we now? 2025. 26. Um, no, sorry. I should say he returned to school last year. Gotcha. Yep. Yep. Return to school last year. That, that was a slow process.

[00:38:38] You know, the, the chemo effectively wipes out your immune system. So we had to be very careful of, um, what we were sort of, um, what sort of situations we were putting Liam back into. Um, we had, had to build up that immunity, had to get his vaccinations again. So he was sort of drip fed back into school over a period, a period of months. And that was obviously for A, his own safety, but B, he didn't have the energy, energy levels

[00:39:06] to return to full-time school. So that was sort of the game plan last year. We, we slowly reintroduced him, reintroduced him to schooling. Uh, and that took the best part of 12 months. Um, but fast forward to 2026, you know, I should say like last year, he still went and played soccer and he still did the athletics carnivals and still played with his mates. Um, but, but this year again, that, that the improvement and the, the almost like for

[00:39:35] like return to normality has, has been incredible. He's, he's back playing all his sports with all his friends. He played Oztag over the summer. He's kicking the soccer ball around, uh, Georgia river tigers this year. And, you know, he's barely missed a day of school. So life for Liam is getting back to, to, to what should be normality for, you know, an eight year old boy. And does he talk about it at all? Does he talk about his experience? Does he talk about any fears, et cetera? Like what's his communication like with that kind of thing?

[00:40:05] Yeah, he, he, he's a funny one. He, he sort of, he's a bit dismissive of the whole, whole brain cancer episode and, you know, it was, it was a bit annoying and hospitals a bit annoying, but you know, he, you know, he got to build lots of Lego and that was pretty cool. And yeah, yeah, he, he, he certainly looks at it, uh, through a different lens and what, what mom and dad would, um, that's good. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:31] Which, which is good because, you know, we, we want him just all eyes on the future and it doesn't look like there's anything holding him back, which is, which is great. In hospital, like, do they have like kids, psychologists come around or anything like that and kind of gauge how they're doing mentally? Like I know it's a very young age, but is there anything that happens there? Yeah. Yeah. No, there, there, there's all that appropriate care. Yeah. They, they, they legitimately look after every aspect of his life and, you know, it

[00:41:01] should be noted too, that the, the care there and the support there for, for the parents. Yep. Is, um, is also incredible, you know, especially, especially the foundations like Red Kite. Um, they, they were amazing in the support of our family and especially my wife, um, mental health care and, you know, food vouchers and gift vouchers for petrol and all different types of hardship. Um, yeah, it is, it's incredibly the care that you get in our hospital system.

[00:41:29] And is Red Kite a, like a volunteer kind of type situation? Is it like, what sort of company is that? How can we get behind those guys? Yeah. Good, good question. Um, they're obviously a not-for-profit, but, um, how do we get involved? I don't know, Sam. That's all right. That's all right. I've, I've been on the receiving end. Yeah. But it's, it's about, about time. We're looking at how we can, how we can help them. Oh, look, we're here to help a lot of people. So obviously impossible to do that, but just if people are aware of the name Red Kite and

[00:41:59] if they have any interest in helping those guys and girls out, that'd be cool. Liam is back to everyday life. He's, he's doing okay. He's doing really well, mate. Yep. He's, he's a very happy, happy little boy. He's driving his older brothers crazy. Um, he's sort of back to his cheeky self. So it's, it's, yeah, it's awesome to see. Now who's his favorite Sharks player? He loves Toby Rudolph. Okay.

[00:42:22] When we went to the Sharks training session and photo session, um, Toby rocked up on an e-bike. He rode it on the, on the oval, the, the ground, the groundskeepers blew up at him to lark. So I was so upset with him, but he also had his dog. So Liam spent most of the session chasing Toby Rudolph's dog, which he thought was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, Toby's a big, a big, uh, a big hit in our house.

[00:42:51] Is LJ getting to an age now where he's getting more invested into week to week. Cronulla Sharks. Like, where's he at with that? Yeah, it's happening. It's happening. Um, obviously I'm, I'm a big fan. His older brothers, that's really starting to love their footy. Like Jack, Jack's almost 13 now and he's, he's into it. He, he plays it. He watches it. He wants to go to the games. Um, and yeah, like his big brothers, Liam wants to be the same. All right, let's talk what's happening this weekend.

[00:43:19] So, uh, first and foremost, let's talk about the Mark Hughes foundation. You mentioned that you spoke to him, uh, this week. Tell us about, do they get in touch with you? Do you get in touch with them? How did that first contact happen? Yeah. Okay. Obviously being a footy fan, I was very well aware of the, being for brain cancer around. Um, and I still remember being in hospital one night.

[00:43:43] Um, Liam was asleep and yeah, I think I had my iPad out and I was just Googling away and, you know, looking at cures and looking at different things you can do and, and stumbled across Mark Hughes' website and just the realization that, that Mark himself was a survivor, um, was a real, um, real important moment for me personally in, in, in my journey purely because

[00:44:10] I was able to see somebody who's, you know, who survived this horrible disease and not only survived it, but has then gone on to do something truly incredible, um, with the, you know, with the Mark Hughes foundation. I took a bit of inspiration from that. And then last year, you know, one of my big outlets was just, just been able to go and play league tag with my mates. So we, we do that every Saturday afternoon. And I don't know if you remember Rod Silver or Rocket Rod from Canterbury Bulldogs. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:44:39] We're lucky enough to have him in our side. He's a wonderful man and he, he actually missed a game, which, which was quite unlike him. He's a heart and soul of the side and, um, we're sitting down having a beer post game and Rocket came and joined us and we asked him, mate, where have you been? And he'd actually been on the big trek. Um, yeah. So he told us all about what he'd been doing and, and myself and another friend, Michael Black sort of said there and then, righto, we're doing this next year.

[00:45:07] So that's where it's, that's where it started. Um, I reached out to a man called Luke Alexander who, who organizes this, uh, this trek on behalf of Mark Hughes foundation. Um, I wanted my whole footy side in there. I said, mate, there's 30 of us. We want to go. What can you do? Um, I was probably a bit excited there. Um, you sort of said, look, you can join us, but I can't take 30 bikes. I can, I can take seven. So, so that's what I've done.

[00:45:33] Um, a couple of guys from the league tag and then, you know, my best mates growing up, but my brother included and three other, um, Sharkies members. Awesome. That's the big three trek. So you're starting, where are you starting at, at the NRL headquarters? Yeah, we started more part. Correct. Yep. Started more part. We're going up to Nui. So we'll actually, I think the first stop, circular key, we'll jump on a ferry, head over to the Northern beaches.

[00:46:03] And we, we slowly make our way up from there. Um, base camp for the nights at the Crown Plaza Terrigal. So, you know, more part of the Terrigal. It's a decent walk day one. Um, it's, I think it's 55 or 57 kilometers, something like that.

[00:46:47] Um, so it's going to test us. Yeah. It's a channel nine game. So we, we've got to make a, um, a bit of time up and get there about three or four hours earlier than what they, what they traditionally do. So what's the fitness levels of the seven people involved, including yourself? Yeah. We're not too bad. We're not too bad. We're, you know, we know it's going to be a challenge. Um, we, we, we've done the work. I'm confident in saying that we've, we've certainly done the work.

[00:47:12] Some of the, some of the miles and some of the hours the boys have racked up, um, in prep is, is been really impressive. Um, you know, we, we managed to walk from, from Como Footbridge to the rocks, uh, two weeks ago, which is about 30 Ks. And, you know, we, we, we did that fine and managed to sneak a couple of beers in too. So I think, you know, from a, from a fitness perspective, we're okay. Um, but in saying that we, we've never been tested like this.

[00:47:41] We, you know, it's not often that you walk, um, that distance, um, you know, for one day, let alone three days, three days on end. So I think that's going to be the challenge. And is the family meeting you in Newcastle? Like, how are you going to get home? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, the, the, the wife and the family, they're, they're, they're meeting us up in Newcastle. Um, and all things going well, whether for me, they'll meet us five, Ks before we get to McDonald's stadium.

[00:48:10] So we'll do the last five Ks with them and, and enter the ground with them. So, um, yeah, I can't wait for that moment. Just, just seeing the little fella, um, all of them, to be honest, and give them a big kiss and hug and, and share that moment with them. And is LJ going to get to go on to marathon stadium, as you call it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll, we'll do a lap. I won't say we'll do a lap of honor, but we're definitely going to do it. Might as well. Definitely. Yeah. But no, no, we'll, we'll do a lap and I think there's a bit of a, um, bit of a presentation

[00:48:38] there with, um, with the Mark Hughes foundation. So looking forward to that. The man is a God in Newcastle. So I'm sure you'll be treated very well. If you're anywhere near the Mark Hughes foundation, uh, I'm sure that, uh, there'll definitely be a standing O for you guys and girls doing that. That's amazing. Benies for brain cancer. Like what a great initiative. I know that was a Matt calendar who passed away from it. He was a channel nine, uh, high up executive and involved with TV production.

[00:49:07] He and Mark Hughes, uh, for people who don't know, um, came up with the idea and it's, it's unbelievable how it's grown. And as you say, like Mark Hughes has now gone on to do something, you know, far more important than winning a grand final. Like he's just changing lives, saving lives to the point where I think he said they employ close to 50 people doing research and there's a, a whole center up there and, and they're

[00:49:35] really making waves in, in trying to beat this, this awful thing. They are, they're doing incredible work. I think only last week or the week before they were able to donate almost $19 million to brain cancer research. And you know, that, that, that's unmatched in this company, uh, in this country. There's, there's no one else, you know, raising the funds and shaking the can like, like the Mark Hughes Foundation are. Excellent. And have you gotten to know him a little bit or? No, not, not exactly. You touched on it before.

[00:50:05] He was nice enough to give us, give us a call yesterday and congratulate the team on, on some of our fundraising efforts to date. Yeah. Um, yeah. And he's exactly right. You'd imagine very, very humble, very generous with his time. Lovely fella. Um, so he's promised us a, um, an opportunity to have a couple of beers once, once we get up to Newcastle. So I'm, I'm looking forward to that. He's got some pretty famous friends too. So it sounds like Sunday will be a lot of fun in Newcastle. Yeah, I'm hoping so.

[00:50:34] We'll be, we'll be honorary, uh, Nova Castrians that day, I think Adam, just for the cause. So anything else you can tell us, anything else you want us to do? Like how else can we help aside from donating and sharing the information around? Like, is there anything else we can do for you and the, and for the cause? Oh, look, I think you've touched on it before. You know, we, we can't expect everybody to be able to donate, you know, all the time. It's certainly challenging times financially for most people at the moment.

[00:51:02] But if, if you hear our story and, you know, it's managed to touch you in, in, in any particular way, please, please share it with friends or family or, you know, your, your boss at work. Um, and a big part I should speak about, about what Mark Hughes is doing this year in particular is that they're funding three brain cancer nurses. Right. That, that, that costs $1.3 million annually.

[00:51:28] Um, when we were in Sydney Children's Hospital, we had a lady called Liz Bland, who was our clinical care nurse and she, she was a conduit between the, our neuro team, our oncology team and all the other doctors, um, that, that we'd speak to on a regular basis. And the support that she gave Aaron, myself, Liam and our family was, was absolutely amazing.

[00:51:57] Um, and you know, we were heartbroken to know that not all hospitals have this level of care for people with brain cancer. So it's, it's, if, if we can say, if we can say one thing, it's please get behind this foundation and help them with, you know, ultimately the care that they're providing for brain cancer patients. All right. Well said. So the big three track, it's part of the, uh, beanies for brain cancer round.

[00:52:24] If you go into a game this week, unfortunately our boys aren't playing, but if you go into a game this week, if you're a neutral, if you're a shark, sicko, lexicon and other games, you can buy the beanies at the ground. I know that a bunch of supermarkets have it as well, right? Yeah, that's correct, mate. Yep. I believe it's, um, Woolworths and IGA. Yeah. And I'm sure you can buy it online as well. There are a bunch of places you can buy the beanies.

[00:52:50] That's probably the quickest way you can help because you're getting a cool beanie and you're also donating straight to the Mark Hughes foundation. Uh, there are other ways you can donate money and you can follow, uh, Adam and the crew on the big three track. Um, just Google that we will get links happening. So, uh, on our socials and on this podcast, there'll be a link attached. And if you click on that directly, you'll be able to help, uh, support team LJ, which is what we're here for.

[00:53:18] Uh, does, does Liam go to any games or will he be going to games in the future? Yeah. Yeah. He, you know, he loves going to the footy. We, we sort of, we took it to magic round last year. He loved that. Got to meet the players up there. He's been at one or two games this year. You know, he's a big fan. Okay. Well, I would like to personally give the young man a high five and tell him what a champion he is. So hopefully I'll see him in the upper Andrew Eddinghausen, uh, sooner rather than later. Uh, but thanks for jumping on Adam. I know it's not the easiest thing for you to do.

[00:53:45] I know you love talking about promoting the cause and everything, but also understand the emotion attached to it. Uh, it's such a ordeal you guys have been through and we really appreciate hearing your story. And if there's any way our listeners can help, I know they will, whether it's a dollar, whether it's a beanie, whether it's whatever, um, I know that will help whether it's sharing your story, uh, that will help because we, we look after our own and, uh, I know, um, all

[00:54:12] the other sharks podcasts and, and, um, sharks media, everyone in the sharks community. It's a, it's a very big community. Like we're a small club, but it's a very big community. Um, we're all behind you. So, uh, yeah, thanks for jumping on Adam and great to hear your story and your story about the sharks and, and, and, and you're, you're a tragic like us. That's what makes it even more, um, heartening is that you're just a sharks tragic and, and we love those kinds of people. Yeah, man.

[00:54:41] I, I love the sharkies, man. They're, you know, they're, they're, they're in our blood. The Johnson household just adores them, mate. So hopefully they can do the job this year, but yeah, really appreciate the support. No worries. Um, just stick around Adam while we do the outro. Thanks everyone for listening and watching if that's what you do. And we'll be back with more episodes before you know it is bi-week, but we've got a few things planned to stick with us. This has been a very special shark cast with Adam Johnson talking about his beautiful son, Liam, and his beautiful family, and you can support them.

[00:55:09] The big three track team LJ. You can also get beanies of brain cancer, uh, beanies this round, and you can go straight to the Mark Hughes foundation as well to, um, to help out in any way you can help. Any of these, um, beautiful organizations and causes would be much appreciated. Until the next episode, we'll talk to you soon. Up, up, Grinnell, let's go. Shark Cast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland

[00:55:36] Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Karimba region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast. If you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips and Crips Real Estate. Sharkies!

[00:56:07] Sharkies! Back in the Shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy. Jamie, and the talent for a trophy. And the holiday of the season without you. What is the fate? What is the love? The movie! The movie!翌7 617 417 5336 5346 6346 6346 732 6356 6358 742 And the first time we're getting to have a trophy. And the first time we're getting to have a trophy. But what's