High-profile sportspeople are obviously in the spotlight a lot and are always criticised for what they do wrong.
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We’re all human, we all make mistakes, but I think it’s the little things that people don’t see behind the scenes that need to be considered as well.
You don’t see all those good things high-profile athletes that have been in trouble before have done.
It doesn’t get talked about all that often, but it’s pretty special, and, for me, that is more important than winning trophies.
There’s been a few times where I’ve been fortunate to be in that position.
There was a boy named Lachie a couple of years ago that passed away at only 12 or 13.
He came to a Melbourne Victory camp over two or three days and I was his favourite player.
Come the third day, his back was really sore and he couldn’t participate in the rest of the camp and it progressively got worse after that.
He went and saw a specialist and the poor boy ended up having a tumour growing down his spine.
Within three or four months, he was paralysed and couldn’t move.
Victory contacted me and told me it was a fan of mine that had gone through a tough time.
I have kids and I couldn’t imagine being in that position, so I felt obligated to do whatever I could do to help.
You want to keep a little bit to yourself and don’t want people to think you’re doing it for glory, these types of things are personal sometimes.
But I happened to grow really close to this young kid and I think it was the night before a game against Western Sydney and he was touch and go in hospital.
I said to the parents, I can be there any time, football is irrelevant, just call me at any time in the day or night.
I think I got the call at 1am the day before the game and I didn’t hesitate to go in there.
I saw him slowly pass away and it was devastating to watch.
I then went to the funeral and to hear how much they appreciated your time and how happy you made him feel when you walked into the room is pretty special.
I’m lucky now that I’m in a position where I can do those sort of things like go to hospitals to visit sick children and be a part of ambassador roles.
I’ve just been asked to be an ambassador for the Albury-Wodonga Cancer Trust and also launched FFA’s tissue donor campaign.
I didn’t realise how important it is and how donating your tissues and organs can help so many people.
To be able to be a part of that and bring awareness to people and help in any way is pretty special.
Those are the sorts of things I hold pretty close to my heart.