A popular member of the Newcastle Oztag family, Jerome Brecard recently found out that he’s literally got the fight of his life on his hands.
It was a Wednesday afternoon (a fortnight ago) and Jerome was due to referee in Newcastle. He wasn’t feeling too well and he called the convener to see if he could take the night off sick.
Jerome headed to the hospital for a check up and after a series of tests, the news he received shocked his wife and young family, Remy (3 years) and Maddox (9 months) to the core.
To everyone’s horror, Jerome was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer with the cancer having already spread to his liver.
Jerome started his chemotherapy this week and everyone at Australian Oztag would like to wish him all the very best in such an unexpected and tough set of circumstances!
The Brecard family are good friends of Oztag and have contributed to the sport’s development massively. Jerome’s father, Serge Brecard used to run Oztag in Murwillimbah.
Jerome travelled to London on a two-year working holiday visa in 2010, got involved in the local Oztag scene there and became one of the top referees in the country, refereeing numerous representative matches and at weeknight leagues in which he continued his refereeing when he settled back in Newcastle.
Jerome is now undergoing intense treatment and is unable to work and his wife can’t work due to being his full time carer. To alleviate the financial burden on this young family at this very difficult time, there are the following ways to support them:
Joanne and Brett Howard from Newcastle Oztag are organizing a fundraising evening at the Sunnyside Tavern in Broadmeadow on Friday, the 21st of June. For more information, keep an eye on the Newcastle Oztag Facebook page.
Newcastle Oztag will also be present at this weekend’s City Vs Country tournament at Tuggerah on the Central Coast with donation buckets. If you’re attending this weekend, please make a donation if you can.
If you won’t be attending the City Vs Country tournament and you’d still like to make a donation, you can do so by clicking here.