WHEN MORGAN MET MATTHEW
THEY have both pulled on the red jersey of Wales and were teammates at the Scarlets. Morgan Stoddart and Matthew J Watkins know the trials and tribulations of being a professional rugby player – and how injury can stop your boyhood dream.
They also both know what it’s like to hear the words “you have cancer”.
The former teammates are at different points of their cancer journey but came together as supporters of cancer charity Velindre.
The pair talked about their respective diagnosis, what it was like telling their families, and the care they’ve had. Matthew, known as MJ, was first diagnosed in 2013.
The 39 year old from Blackwood, near Caerphilly, put the soreness he was feeling down to the hip injury which had led him to retire two years earlier but tests showed it was cancer. The diagnosis process was much longer for him than Morgan, because of the rare nature of his cancer.
Then, earlier this year, he revealed that his cancer had spread from his pelvis to his spine and he needs specialist treatment in London.
He continues to travel to London and is soon due to have a scan which will reveal if the treatment is working. “If not, I’ve got to try something else,” he said.
He first went for a check-up because of back pain in December 2012 but his diagnosis wasn’t until the summer of the following year.
“They said then ‘it’s cancer’ and then it took another two weeks for a biopsy – and from January until May to sort it out and decide the type of treatment I was going to have and who I needed to see. It was quite a long process,” he said.
Morgan, 33, from Trealaw in the Rhondda, felt a lump on his testicle while on a rugby tour. He went to the GP without telling anyone, not wanting to upset his wife or family if it was nothing.
He said: “I knew something was wrong when I was on tour in Hong Kong with Cross Keys. I was in the shower and checking and something just twigged and I thought that as soon as I get home I should go to the doctor and get it checked.”
He was quickly diagnosed and taken in for surgery within a month. Just days ago, he had his first year check-up, and he was told he remains cancer free. Both men said they waited until they had a confirmed diagnosis before they told their families, and both made the call themselves to release details to the press and their fans. MJ said: “I think I waited a while to tell my family because I keep a lot to myself. I think it must have taken me a good few weeks for me to tell my mother and my wife that I did have cancer”.
Morgan said: “It was a short time frame for me to get it sorted. When I first went I didn’t tell my wife I wsa going to the doctor because I just booked it and decided to go.
“If they said there was nothing wrong, I probably wouldn’t have told anyone. She’s a bit of a worrier, so I didn’t want her in my ear.
“Once they said I had to be transferred to a specialist, I told her. Then she came with me to the scan.”
They both said they’d had support from the wider rugby family since they announced that they had cancer. Morgan said: “When I came out, it was kind of my way of telling people rather than sending messages around. I just got the story out there and hoped it would promote people to go and get things checked out.
“I got loads of messages of support, too many to mention. The messages kept flooding in for days and weeks.”
MJ added: “That’s the good thing about rugby, the players more so than the clubs, you have built up friendships. That’s the most important thing – you’re playing, whether for a season or six or seven years, but the people you meet are good friends and you meet up on an international day for a pint. The support is always there from the boys.”
Both men had treatment in Velindre in Whitchurch, Cardiff, and both want to do as much as possible to help the charity.
“Until you walk in to the outpatients and see how many people are there, you don’t realise how many people are going through it and how many are affected – and that was just on a Monday for me,” said MJ.
Morgan said: “It’s a bit of a shock at your first appointment, waiting with 100 other people, but it’s not a doom and gloom place. There’s a lot of people who are positive there.”
Both want to raise as much money as possible. MJ said: “I had to get funding for my treatment, because it was a rare type. I was treated with a breast cancer drug and, for me, they had to go up in front of committees to get the funding for that drug.
“People think if you have cancer you get treated straight away but there’s a lot more to it. The most important thing is the fundraising people do for Velindre. There isn’t a bottomless pit of money”.
The pair were talking as part of Velindre’s campaign, backed by the Western Mail and WalesOnline, called Wear It Red for Wales and Velindre. The aim is to get as many people, schools and businesses to wear red on February 2 next year, the day before Wales’ first Six Nations game against Scotland. Everyone is asked to donate £1 and try and raise £100,000 for the charity. To find out more visit www.velindrefundraising.com.