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<big>Robbie Farah vows to help his mum battle cancer</big>
JUST as he does each and every Christmas Eve, Robbie Farah will turn his deft hands from dummy half to table service.
Although his personal life was turned upside down six weeks ago, the Wests Tigers skipper is intent on treating every day - no matter how emotionally significant - as they once were.
So tonight he’ll again commandeer the kitchen to prepare turkey, seafood and salad for the family’s traditional festive meal.
In the dining room will be his closest relatives, including 62-year-old mother Sonia.
It was her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer early last month that drove Farah’s world into a tail-spin.
Drove him back from the Kangaroo Tour, from Heathrow to Campsie, in tears and restlessness on the first plane available.
And then drove him on to the couch beside his mum, in the opaque pit of nights when she couldn’t sleep because of the discomfort inflicted by weekly bouts of chemotherapy.
But silently driving Farah all along has been a conviction that life must go on as normal.
Because to think or act otherwise would be a concession of the medical odds Sonia must overcome in this battle.
So far she’s given absolutely everything and then some; walking for an hour each morning and adhering to a special diet. Controlling what she can control.
“I’m so proud of her,” Farah said. "These sorts of things are mental and they can break you.
"You just can’t imagine how tough it is, but half the battle is mental.
"We’ve got to be positive. We can’t give in. We’ve got to treat everything as normally as possible.
"Mum has been so strong. She’s not changed too much. She’s still doing the same things as best she can.
"I still live at home and I’ve seen it all. There’s nights I’ve spent on the couch with her, when she’s in pain.
“I try my best … just to keep her mind occupied. To make her laugh. Anything not to make her think about this.”
The fact Farah can now talk publicly about the situation stands as testament to how his attitude has progressed since being alerted in London via a text from his brother David.
“We’d actually been given four days off and a few of us were headed to the airport to go to Berlin,” he recalled.
"After I spoke to my brother I still ended up going to the airport - but I was flying straight back to Australia.
"There was one seat available and I got it. It was the longest 24 hours of my life.
"I cried and couldn’t sleep. Then when I got home I didn’t want to go out and see people.
I got very depressed."
But it was indirectly through rugby league that Farah found perspective. High-profile players use their status to quietly inspire needy and sick people, and the 27-year-old is no exception.
For the past decade he and four friends have raised around $250,000 for a variety of causes through their charity, Mates on a Mission.
The biggest fundraiser was yesterday’s annual golf tournament at Liverpool GC, with donations to be directed toward specialist playground equipment for disabled kids.
“Even doing this work and seeing people doing it tough, you never deep down think it will happen to someone close to you,” Farah said.
"It’s given me perspective and I appreciate things more.
"But in my mind, I truly think mum will get better.
“I’m not believing in anything less”.
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All the best to Robbie’s mum hope she makes a full recovery and more importantly I hope the family have a good Christmas and the same for all the Wests Tigers Forumers and their families. :sign:
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I hope she gets through it. Its a terrible desease, thats alot of us heart broken. But , you know if she’s anything like Robby she’ll pull through. Xxx
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