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Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby Dan-cat

What a lovely man he is:

From the Metro

Jack Lisowski has found a higher purpose in snooker, no longer just motivated by money, trophies and personal success, but to inspire those who are going through the horrific ordeal he faced as a teenager. Lisowski is steadily becoming a consistent force at the top of the sport, but he has had to overcome more than most to reach this point after suffering with Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a 16-year-old, a form of cancer originating in white blood cells. The disease took hold immediately after Jack left school and his life was put on hold for a year as he fought through the terrifying situation. ‘It was like I had a tennis ball in the middle of my chest, a massive lump’ Lisowski told Metro.co.uk.

‘I had a biopsy then they cut a lymph node out of my neck, the white blood cell count in my blood was off the scale, which normally indicates a stage four cancer. ‘That was where I was at for about seven days, thinking it was the most serious cancer, then I met my doctor in Cheltenham who pretty much just said: “Look I’m going to cure you.” That was it from there. I just had that mindset from that point, I had to find a way through. ‘The chemo was the worst thing ever. Every two weeks I had to go and for eight months it just broke me down. ‘My whole body was so weak. All my hair, my eyebrows come out, my skin went a different yellowy colour. I’d have a big blast of chemo and I’d look at my veins the next day and they were stained red, all the way up your arm you have a red spider’s web.’ Jack’s doctor was right and they did win the fight against the illness, allowing Jackpot to resume his promising snooker career, which seemed to take no time to get back on track despite what he had gone through. ‘Your body starts healing so fast, you start becoming your old self again, it’s amazing,’ Lisowski explained. ‘I think it took about a year until I was feeling strong again and then before I knew it I was in Sheffield getting the Paul Hunter Scholarship.

‘That let me play snooker every day against these pros, people like Ding [Junhui]. A year there and then I was a pro. It was all a bit of a blur. I was 16 getting ill one day then the next year I was turning pro. The last 15 years have been a bit of a blur to be honest. It’s weird.’ Lisowski plays with, what looks like, a care-free attitude around the table, with a relentlessly attacking brand of snooker delivered in the most stylish of manners.

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/04/22/jack-lis ... to=cbshare

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby Dan-cat

Imagine going through that at 16 'I’d have a big blast of chemo and I’d look at my veins the next day and they were stained red, all the way up your arm you have a red spider’s web.’

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby SnookerEd25

My nephew had similar, diagnosed a week before his 12th birthday, in 2012; three years of horrific treatment later he got the all-clear and has been cancer-free since fortunately.

We’d all love to see Jack win a major title but at least he seems to have won in life, and as I suggested in another thread he realises more than most that snooker is not a matter of life and death and is there to be enjoyed.

He’s a great lad <ok>

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby Juddernaut88

Sorry to hear your nephew was diagnosed ED but glad to hear he got the all clear and been cancer free ever since <ok>

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby Prop

He’s a good ‘un, isn’t he. He always comes across as a genuinely humble bloke.

There’s that tired old trope; “There aren’t any characters in the game”. And when it’s mentioned, it’s usually in terms of ‘bad boy’ characters, like Alex, Jimmy and so on. But Lisowski’s character is the kind we should value in equal measure. Modest, with no chip on his shoulder, and just a nice guy. There’s no pretentious attitude like some of the good guys seem to carry round with them. No righteousness. No smugness. He’s a good egg.

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby Dan-cat

He'll be a very popular champion when he makes it, far more so than Trump. I imagine Trump will be jealous of the attention, causing a posssible schism in their friendship. It's a potential storyline worthy of Shakespear.

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby SnookerEd25

Juddernaut88 wrote:Sorry to hear your nephew was diagnosed ED but glad to hear he got the all clear and been cancer free ever since <ok>


Thanks Judds :ok:

Re: Jackie D: A New Hope

Postby SnookerEd25

Dan-cat wrote:Great to hear he recovered Ed :-D


Cheers Dan :ok: