Rugby legend Scott faces cancer battle
Messages of support flood in for former British Lion
HE was part of a Scotland team that once beat England in a memorable winner-takes-all Grand Slam decider at Murrayfield.
But rugby legend Scott Hastings is now facing his biggest challenge yet after revealing a secret battle with cancer.
The 57-year-old, who was capped 65 times for Scotland and played twice for the British Lions, has been undergoing chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The aggressive therapy has led to the loss of his hair.
Speaking to the Scottish Mail on Sunday, he sought to reassure his many fans that he is filled with hope and remains undaunted by the diagnosis.
Hastings, now a regular rugby commentator on ITV and BT Sports, said: ‘My cancer is very treatable and non life-threatening.’ However, his wife Jenny tweeted: ‘Scott’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma returned aggressively and he is having intense chemotherapy which will hopefully put him into remission again. A tough journey for him and close family.’ She added that the couple’s children – son Corey, who lives in San Francisco, and daughter Kerry-Anne – had been with their father when the family visited the Maggie’s Centre at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital. Mrs Hastings said: ‘We were all together at the start of this chapter. We have been blown away by the facility and support given. Every day is a gift.’ Hastings, known as much for his sense of fun and upbeat attitude to life as for rugby, even posted photos on Twitter of his bald head. He also joked about losing his familiar silver locks, adding: ‘I am halfway through treatment which is going well, apart from hair!’
Messages of support have poured in from across international rugby and from wellwishers.
Paul Wallace, the former Ireland and British Lions rugby player, said: ‘NHL does not have a chance against you Scotty. You will be fighting fit and a silver fox again in no time! Stay strong.’
Hastings’s older brother Gavin, 60, captained Scotland and the British Lions, while nephew Adam plays for the present squad.
In recent times Hastings has been involved in the battle against motor neurone disease, becoming a trustee of former team-mate Doddie Weir’s foundation.
He has also been a high-profile campaigner for mental health awareness after his wife disclosed that depressive episodes once drove her to attempt suicide.
Hastings’s Scotland career included the famous 1990 Grand Slam victory over England.
He toured twice with the Lions in 1989 and 1993, and was Scotland’s most-capped player when he retired.