LEGENDARY
cricketing figure Tony Greig has been diagnosed with a form of lung cancer. EngNews
Tony Greig has been diagnosed with a form of lung cancer and he will wait and evaluate a detailed prognosis before
deciding on treatment.
"I have had a few scrapes in my life and this is another
one," Greig told The Sunday Telegraph from his eastern suburbs home.
"(His wife) Vivian and I are going to put the boxing
gloves on and fight this like we've never fought anything before."
Greig will enter hospital this week for surgery to take a
sample from his lung, which will allow doctors to properly diagnose the extent
of the cancer and chart a course of action.
Greig, 66, first became aware he had a problem during Australia 's
one-day series against Pakistan
in Dubai in August and September,
on which he was commentating. Initially diagnosed with bronchitis in May, the
condition lingered and, by the time of the ICC World Twenty20 that finished in Sri
Lanka earlier this month, Greig had tests
that revealed a small lesion at the base of his right lung.
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| Tony Greig and wife Vivian with their children Tom and Beau and Tony's now-adult children Mark Greig and Sam Kennedy at their home in Vaucluse. Picture: Tim Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph |
On his return to Australia
a fortnight ago, he had "a lot of fluid" removed from the right lung.
Testing revealed he had lung cancer.
A former England
captain, the South African-born Greig is a household name in Australia
after defecting to be one of the spearheads of Kerry Packer's World Series
Cricket in 1977.
His integral role in the formation of WSC, and his strong
friendship with Packer, was showcased in Channel Nine's blockbuster mini-series
Howzat.
Greig was bestowed the honour of delivering the prestigious
Cowdrey Spirit Of Cricket Lecture at Lords in June this year, receiving rave
reviews and proving old wounds between he and the MCC had long healed.
He has lived in Sydney
since the late 1970s and has commentated cricket for Nine for 33 years, with
the quartet of he, Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell and Richie Benaud becoming the
voices of the Australian summer.
He is unsure if he will commentate for Nine during the
upcoming summer, which begins with a Test at the Gabba against South
Africa on November 9.
"At this stage, the summer is totally up in the air,"
Greig said. "My priority, 100 per cent, is my family. They will come first."
Greig is expected to take guidance from Nine boss and close
friend David Gyngell. He formed a strong bond with Packer and the "first
man on Australian television" Bruce Gyngell from the start of World Series
Cricket and met their young sons James Packer and David Gyngell, when they were
in primary school.
"This is a difficult time for Tony and, knowing him like
all the family at Nine knows him, it'll take more than this to stop him," Gyngell
said.
"Every fan at the SCG and MCG and cricket stadiums
around the world will be rooting for this great man, as are all his Nine
colleagues. At a personal level, I've known Tony Greig most of my life . He's a
generous, big-hearted, inherently decent bloke. I'm thinking of him and his
family."
Greig and his second wife Vivian have two young children - daughter
Beau, 12 and son Tom, 10, who is a talented cricketer.
He also has two adult children from a previous marriage - daughter
Sam, 39, and son Mark, 37 and is close to his siblings - brother Ian, also a
former English Test cricketer who lives in Brisbane, and sisters Sally and
Molly. On Saturday night, Greig phoned his 93-year-old mother Joyce in South
Africa to inform her.
Greig is the second Nine personality to be diagnosed with
cancer in as many weeks after it was revealed Peter Harvey was battling cancer
of the pancreas.
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