BRAVE TEEN KICKING GOALS AFTER CANCER
TEENAGE soccer star Eloise Paine wants other youngsters to know there is hope after a cancer diagnosis.
She was 15 when a tumour was discovered on her spinal cord, putting on hold her selection in a junior Matildas squad.
Eloise, who has just turned 18, recently returned to the Royal Hobart Hospital where she had 45 sessions of chemotherapy over 54 weeks.
She gave her oncology nurses a framed Matildas jumper signed by the team, including her hero, Sam Kerr.
“The nurses most definitely made it a fun time and were always so positive in a not-so-positive time,” Eloise said.
“Obviously, my big passion is football and until when I was diagnosed, I was like at the peak of my performance, the best I’d ever been.
“Later on I found out that I’d actually been selected in the junior Matildas extended list squad, so getting the news of my diagnosis really pushed me back.”
But Eloise has come back with a vengeance and wants to inspire others, with the jumper, given to her as part of a Make-A-Wish grant, now on the hospital wall.
“It’s like an inspiration for young kids that there is still hope for you after treatment,” she said.
“You can still go and do things after treatment.
“It doesn’t have to define you, you can still go and have your life after a setback. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
A Royal Hobart Hospital spokesman thanked Eloise for her generous donation.
“The signed jersey now has pride of place in the unit where she came every week for her treatment," the spokesman said.
Eloise is now playing for Sydney University’s U18 women’s team and is in Year 12 at Endeavour Sports High School.