Volts bowler back from the brink
A cancer diagnosis three years ago knocked Otago Volts bowler Andrew Hazeldine for six. He tells cricket writer Adrian Seconi about his ‘‘long and emotional’’ battle back to playing the game he loves.
IT was the fight of his life — not a fight for his life. That important distinction kept Otago fast bowler Andrew Hazeldine going when the cumulative effects of chemotherapy had left him so utterly depleted he wondered how much more he could endure.
His cancer diagnosis four months earlier had left him stunned. But he was young and fit and his survival chances were ‘‘insanely high’’, as he put it. Ninetyeight percent they said. But when you are lying on a hospital bed waiting for the endless rounds of nausea to pass with barely the energy to reach out and take your partner’s hand, hope can fade out of view.
‘‘You’re in here for a cure,’’ a nurse reminded him.
Many of the other patients on the ward were in palliative care. That really put his struggles into perspective, he said.
‘‘The end result is getting to live the rest of your life,’’ Hazeldine said.
That was an enormous comfort when there was no physical comfort to be had.
Skip ahead three years and the wiry leftarmer is back steaming in and doing what he loves. He snapped up five for 36 to help Otago post a 65run win against Central Districts at the
University Oval on Tuesday.
He will be in action again today when Otago look to unseat Wellington at the Basin Reserve and push towards securing a spot in the playoffs.
His road back to cricket post cancer treatment has not been easy. He left hospital weighing 58kg — almost 20kg below his playing weight.
A series of hamstring strains and a groin strain have limited the amount of cricket he has been able to play.
But the 29yearold played a full part in the Otago Super Smash campaign and his spell on Tuesday was impressive.
He generated a lot of heat and he possesses a skiddy bouncer and yorker which arrives awfully quickly.
His wife, Kate, who supported him through his treatment, was there to celebrate his fivewicket haul. There was a lot of emotion in their tearful embrace.
‘‘It has been a long and emotional road. To see some rewards and actually feel like you are getting somewhere again is a really nice feeling.’’
Cricket has been a huge part of his life.
Hazeldine was born in Portsmouth and lived in Hampshire.
He played for the same village club as his father and younger brother.
The family moved out to New Zealand when Hazeldine was 12.
He was a cricket nut but never imagined he would play professionally until he was discovered while bowling to the touring Australian team at the nets at Hagley Oval in 2016.
Canterbury brought him into the fold and he made his provincial debut in a T20 match against Central Districts in Nelson in December 2017.
He opened the bowling with Ben Stokes — yes, that Ben Stokes — and they butted up against Jesse Ryder, who was in prime form and swatted 84 from 40.
But a couple of years into his professional career, and just as he was starting to string together some good performances, cancer arrived.
He was on a preseason trip to Timaru with his club side in 2020 and noticed a lump in his neck.
‘‘I stupidly Googled it. Never doctor Google it. But it scared me enough where I rang mum.’’
His mother, Sam, is a retired nurse and told him not to panic and get to the doctor when he returned from the trip.
He did that and not long after got a call from the doctor while he was with the Canterbury team working on the picket fence which surrounds Hagley Oval.
He was told to come in that afternoon and to ‘‘bring someone with you’’.
It was absolutely terrifying. ‘‘My heart went straight away.
‘‘Those are the words you never want to hear.’’
He went to the appointment, got called in straight away ‘‘and even before I had a chance to sit down the doctor said ‘you’ve got cancer’’’.
More words you never want to hear.
He had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer which affects he immune system.
‘‘It was a very numb feeling.’’ His mother moved ‘‘straight into nurse mode’’ and asked all the right questions.
‘‘She was unbelievable.’’ He found the lump on September 11, was diagnosed on September 25, started treatment on October 26.
It was a bewildering time. His only real symptoms, other than the lump, was some shortness of breath and a ‘‘weird cough’’.
‘‘I went in for my first day [of treatment]. I guess you have that bravado that I’m going to be fine. I can do this, how hard can it be?
‘‘I’m young, I’m fit, I’m strong. I can do this.
‘‘At end of the day I got wheelchaired out of the cancer clinic.’’
‘‘It was definitely a reality check. OK, this is going to be a real battle and you’re going to have to really fight through this.’’
The low point came when he needed a blood booster injection which ‘‘felt like my pelvis, my legs and my back were going to explode’’.
From late December he spent 16 out of 30 days in hospital.
His treatment was complete in late January and he had a scan on February 9 to see if it had been successful.
He was not expecting to hear back straight away, but got a phone call later that day.
‘‘I can’t remember exactly what he said but it was something like ‘you are metabolically positively clear’.’’
‘‘So I was like, does that means it has gone?’’
‘‘Yes. It’s gone,’’ came the response.
Words you most definitely want to hear.
‘‘I was crying so much I couldn’t breath,’’ Hazeldine said when trying to explain the overwhelming emotions he was feeling.
Yesterday was the third anniversary of his cancerfree diagnosis. But he is not completely free from the shadow the disease casts. He has regular — less often now — checkups which are frightening and stressful.
As each test has come back clear, he has got more comfortable, though.
But scratch the surface and the emotion is still there. Some of that came out on Tuesday in that hug with his wife.
❛ It was definitely a reality check. OK, this is going to be a real battle and you’re going to have to really fight through this