Cricket star Greg Blewett breaks his silence on the shattering phone call from his mum that changed both of their lives forever
Former Aussie cricket star Greg Blewett has for the first time recalled the harrowing phone call he received from his mother Shirley that changed their lives forever.
Blewett, 53, was away at the time on a Cricketers Association Masters tour in 2014.
'I could tell something was wrong straight away,' he said.
'She said, "Honey, I've got MND", and she just broke down. I'll never forget that phone call. I obviously came home straight away.'
Shockingly, within 12 months of her shock motor neurone disease diagnosis, Shirley Blewett was dead. She was only 69.
Adding to the sadness was the fact Blewett - who played 46 Tests for Australia - never getting to say a final goodbye to his beloved mum.
He raced to the hospital after receiving a call from his father - only to miss Shirley taking her last breath by a few minutes.
Before her death, a brave Shirley refused to use voluntary assisted dying to end her suffering.
While admiring her courage, it meant the Blewetts had to watch the family matriarch slowly deteriorate each day.
'We, like any family living with MND, we really struggled with it,' Blewett told News Corp.
'Seeing what Mum went through was brutal and absolutely heartbreaking.
'It's just hopeless, the slow deterioration and at times fast deterioration, it's just horrible.'
Motor Neurone Disease is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that strips its victims of their independence, dignity and eventually, their voice.
With no known cure, 2752 Australians are currently living with MND - and that figure is tipped to rise to over 4300 by 2050.
Following his own MND prognosis, footy legend Neale Daniher has inspired countless fellow Aussies, raising more than $115million for drug and clinical trials.
It is understood MND costs the Australian health system $27million a year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
44 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bopara inspires Northants, Foxes edge out Lightning
Ravi Bopara produced a T20 batting masterclass to inspire Northamptonshire Steelbacks to victory in an entertaining, high-scoring contest against Derbyshire ex-England batter hit an unbeaten 84 off 46 balls to help the hosts recover from 24-3 and set a target of 195, which Derbyshire fell just seven runs short in the the North Group, Leicestershire Foxes ended Lancashire Lightning's 100% winning start to the season with a five-wicket win in a hard-fought encounter at Old who were looking to make it four wins from four, set a target of 146 but the Foxes kept their composure to chase it down with nine balls to spare. Match scorecards Steelbacks remain unbeaten, Falcons still without a win Northamptonshire Steelbacks arrived at the County Ground in Derby having won their first two games to face a Falcons side who lost their was Derbyshire who took charge in the early stages as Northamptonshire lost three wickets inside the opening five overs to slip to skipper David Willey and Bopara steadied the ship with a quickfire 75 partnership as Willey hit three sixes on his way to 37 before he holed out to Pat Brown at deep mid-wicket off Martin Andersson's first Zaib fell for seven but Bopara stepped on the gas, ably supported by Lewis McManus who contributed a useful 29 from 17 Steelbacks racked up 67 runs from the final four overs, including 24 off the last of the innings from Zak Chappell in which Bopara hit three sixes and a left the Falcons with something of a mini mountain to climb, but one which they so nearly reply could not have got off to a worse start when Aneurin Donald spooned one up to Luke Procter off Willey to be dismissed after two balls for the second game in a 0-1 became 12-2, and then 33-3 as David Lloyd and Wayne Madsen both fell without really troubling the Samit Patel. An excellent partnership of 114 between Patel and opener Caleb Jewell gave the Falcons a sniff of pulling off an excellent chase until Jewell was caught by Justin Broad off Procter for 71 from 44 skipper Patel was not to be perturbed and battled on valiantly to try and drag his side over the line, smashing four sixes and nine fours as he made an unbeaten 83. Ross Whiteley came in at the end to hit 15 from 8 balls but Derbyshire were six runs shy of at least tying a thrilling contest. Ahmed outshines Anderson at Old Trafford James Anderson marked his first T20 game for 11 years in style on Sunday, taking 3-17 as Lancashire beat Durham by four wickets in a final-ball there was to be no such joy upon Anderson's first game in the competition at Old Trafford since his return to the T20 Keaton Jennings got the hosts off to a flyer - despite his opening partner Luke Wells going for five - as he smashed 39 from 19 did well to stem the flow though and took wickets at regular intervals throughout to ensure Lightning could not build any real Rehan Ahmed, who is due to join up with England for their T20I series against the West Indies later this week, bowled wonderfully for the took Michael Jones' off stump with a ripper, and then bamboozled Australian batter Ashton Turner with a fantastic googly on his way to 3-16 from his four Trevaskis also did some great work with the ball, taking Green hit 36 towards the end of the innings for Lightning, including running four off the final ball - a rarity in T20 matches - to leave the Foxes needing 146 to win. By the end of the powerplay in Leicestershire's chase, the game was in the balance at 52-3 - Anderson took another T20 wicket with Sol Budinger caught in the deep by Josh Bohannon, and skipper Louis Kimber was making a fist of it with the hit 40 from 22 balls, including three fours and three sixes, before he edged a dolly to Luke Wells at backward point off Tom then did his bit with bat in hand too as he and Ben Cox put on 59 runs for the fifth wicket to swing the tide in Leicestershire's left Trevaskis and Cox needing less than a run a ball in the final five overs after Ahmed was bowled by Charlie two saw it home fairly comfortably in the end as Cox ended on 38 not out and Trevaskis on 22. Lancashire stay top of the North Group on net run-rate ahead of Northamptonshire in second, while Leicestershire climb to third and Derbyshire remain in seventh.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
How Harry Brook got off to a flying start as England's new white-ball captain: Funky fields, empowering team-mates and going hard at the start
If the true characteristics of a captain shine through in a crisis rather than a cruise, it was midway through his maiden series whitewash of West Indies that Harry Brook revealed his approach to repairing England's damaged white-ball reputation. Between the processions to victory by the canals of Birmingham and the banks of the Thames, they were largely naff next to the Taff, Brook admitting of the Cardiff performance: 'I didn't feel we deserved to win.' Joe Root 's career-best, unbeaten 166 resuscitated a chase of 309, after half the side had been dismissed for 133, but it was in the preceding innings, when England's sloppiness resulted in four dropped catches, that Brook sent signals to both his team-mates and those assessing his credentials as Jos Buttler 's successor. There was no huffing, no puffing, no hissy fits; arm waving and finger jabbing were conspicuous by their absence. His body language was consistent with the assured character that surged from novice status to Test cricket's top-rated batsman in the space of two years. Freshness helps, of course. Captaincy is Brook's shiny new penny; his enthusiasm yet to be tested by the grind of an unforgiving international schedule, as Ben Stokes experienced in Pakistan last autumn, leading to a public apology to his team-mates for his demeanour. The comparison with Stokes is apt as Brook unashamedly views England's Test revolutionary as his role model. He also shares head coach Brendon McCullum's belief international cricketers produce their best when they are backed and feel relaxed. And his empowerment of people has already paid dividends. For Brook was instrumental in persuading Jamie Smith and Will Jacks to re-imagine themselves within England's one-day XI. There was some reluctance from Smith when, in the aftermath of a disastrous Champions Trophy at No 3, talk began of converting him into an opener. Memories of failing to pierce the field as a teenager with Surrey — 'the majority of my experiences had not been great' — came flooding back. Equally, in 34 of his first 36 limited-overs international appearances, Jacks had batted in the top three. Yet Brook saw different value in one of England's thinking cricketers, asking him to game-manage from the crucial position of seven. Jacks said earlier this week that once Brook's trust had been established, he began visualising the different challenges the new role presented. 'It's just adjusting to the situation and making good decisions,' he said, after crunching 39 from a standing start at Edgbaston, then sitting on his bat handle for 49 as Root did his thing in south Wales. 'They're both amazing players of seam and spin, so it's nice to see those boys having some time out in the middle and playing well,' was Brook's assessment of how the pair had coped in their new positions. Like Stokes, Brook might not be an academic, but he is cricket smart. While McCullum, director of cricket Rob Key and national selector Luke Wright were naturally involved, the first squad selections of the summer had Brook's fingerprints all over them. A belief that the best Twenty20 teams have a quality spin-bowling all-rounder in the middle order was instrumental to the recall of Hampshire slow left-armer Liam Dawson. And he sets funky fields, prioritising wicket-taking over containment. As Buttler said of the 26-year-old's tactical acumen while deputising last September: 'Watching him from the side against Australia, he was as positive a captain as I've ever seen.' Not since MS Dhoni has an international captain indulged such fascination with leg slip. It encourages the seamers to bowl straight, knowing that flicks off the pads are laced with jeopardy, and acts as a deterrent to sweepers when Adil Rashid's probing leg-spin is introduced. At the Oval on Tuesday, England spent a large part of their 40 overs without an extra cover — offering opponents runs in exchange for their dismissals. He also front-loads innings, ensuring his best bowlers operate at the start. Stiffer challenges than that posed by West Indies lie ahead, but early impressions are encouraging. So much so that if injury were to strike Stokes, ruling him out of Tests against India or Australia later this year, there would be an argument for Brook rather than vice-captain Ollie Pope taking over. Brook is clearly comfortable in his own skin. You would have to be to captain with Stokes in the ranks, as he did with Northern Superchargers last year. Similarly, he is managing two predecessors in Buttler and Root, when a new era might have been the right juncture to move on from the 30-somethings. When Buttler halted a game of whist, suggesting getting off the bus and switching to bikes to beat the London traffic on Tuesday, Brook fell in with the idea — but once play had started he left nobody in doubt who now holds the cards in this England side.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'There were tears, but we are looking forward to it'
World Cup qualifier: Wales v LiechtensteinVenue: Cardiff City Stadium Date: Friday, 6 June Kick off: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Live on BBC One Wales, S4C, iPlayer, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary. David Brooks took the plaudits when Wales players were last together in March after scoring the 96th-minute equaliser in North Macedonia which preserved Craig Bellamy's unbeaten record as head were more congratulations for Brooks when the Wales squad reconvened for World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Belgium this week, but for entirely different and wife Flora revealed on social media earlier this week that they are to become parents, with their baby due on 1 Brooks, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, the news is especially joyous given that there were questions about whether this time would ever come."I always wanted to start a family. My wife and I wanted kids at some point," the 27-year-old says."Obviously when I was diagnosed, you have those conversations and there were never any guarantees that I would be able to have children in the future. There was a chance it wouldn't have been possible."But I was really lucky that it came naturally. After my treatment things went back to normal, so of course I was really happy. There were a few tears, but we are really looking forward to it."Brooks was 24 when he was diagnosed with Stage Two Hodgkin lymphoma in October were "dark times" for the attacking midfielder but, after several months of chemotherapy, he was declared cancer free in May returned to first-team football with Bournemouth in March 2023 and was back in the Wales squad that summer. A senior figure Two years on, Brooks acknowledges that he is now one of Wales' "more senior lads".Joe Allen's retirement means another of the nation's greats has gone, while captain Aaron Ramsey is again missing from this camp due to who has 33 caps, says he relishes the responsibility that comes with being one of the more experienced players in a squad which is rebuilding having lost the likes of Allen, Chris Gunter and Gareth Bale since the 2022 World Cup."Bale is probably the best British player of all time and Joe Allen has been one of the best Welsh players of all time," he adds"They are obviously are a big miss, but there's a lot of young talent coming through and there are a lot of lads, including myself, who have been waiting for an opportunity to showcase ourselves."This is probably the first campaign we have had without them. We are all looking as a collective to try to move forward instead of it being about the special individual. I think we are doing a good job." 'It felt like a big goal' Wales will expect to make it nine games without defeat since Bellamy took charge when the minnows of Liechtenstein visit the Cardiff City Stadium on a sterner challenge awaits in Brussels next Monday, when Wales tackle Group J's top seeds unbeaten record looked set to go during the previous international camp, when North Macedonia went ahead in added time in Skopje only for Brooks to prod home his fifth international goal with almost the last kick of the game."It was not one of my best but as long as it trickles over the line, I am not too fussed," he says."If felt like a big goal in North Macedonia and it makes the table looks a lot better for us."Wales are second as things stand, behind North Macedonia on goal difference, although Belgium are yet to play a game in the Red Devils go to North Macedonia on Friday before returning home to meet Wales. In years gone by, Wales may have viewed a trip to a heavyweight nation like Belgium with some trepidation, as a fixture where a draw would be a superb under Bellamy, who rejects the notion of his side being underdogs, Wales will travel with expectation rather than mere echoes team-mates by describing Bellamy's approach as "intense" – but says Wales' players are hungry to deliver for their boss."He is obviously a very, very passionate guy, especially about Wales, and that can't be a negative," Brooks adds."We want to play well for him and play in his system. We have had a good base, going unbeaten so far, and now we are looking to build on that and become more of a threat and minimising our risk of conceding goals."I feel like we are on a good journey."
