20-year-old Jack Buckley joined the GIANTS as a rookie ahead of the 2018 season. A key forward, he was drafted from the UNSW-ES Bulldogs in Sydney. 

Between 1982 and 1987 the five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with breast cancer was 79 percent, from 1998 to 2010 that had increased to 89 percent, today it’s more than 90 percent. The positive trend of breast cancer survival is a testament to the fundraising, attention and research provided. These improvements bring great joy to me personally, but sadly my mother, Kim, falls in the minority of this statistic after losing her battle with breast cancer in 2004. 

Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. What followed was four years of intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy. While there were times where it was thought the cancer had been contained, it eventually spread until a terrible reaction to a particular operation caused me, and the world to lose the woman I so dearly love. I was six-years old when she passed and my memories of her are limited, which still eats at me to this day.

But, thankfully I spent enough time with her that the love and care she had for me and everyone that knew her will be ingrained in me for the rest of my life. The positive impact she had on so many people makes me proud to call her my Mum but at the same time extremely difficult to swallow as we lost her far too soon.  

Unfortunately, not all memories were good ones as I saw some of the effects the treatment had at a young age, and I didn’t quite have full understanding of it. I stood by helplessly as my Mum suffered, the brutal reality of the situation. Seeing this first hand motivates me to help spread awareness for fundraisers like the Mother’s Day Classic because thousands of other people have and will continue to experience the dreadful reality of breast cancer. 

When she passed I was mostly in shock and never quite came to terms with it across my whole childhood. It was obviously a very difficult time that my Dad, sister and I had to continue on without the most important person in our lives, a gaping hole that could never be filled. Sadly, too many children and families have to grow up and go through life with this same scenario due to this disease. 

I know I am not alone, I stand beside millions of other people who all have their own personal stories on how they were affected by breast cancer. Every story differs, but many have the same heartache and despair.

Fortunately, I am in the position as an AFL footballer where I can have a strong platform to encourage people to get behind a great cause so dear to my heart. So, I encourage everyone to get involved in the Mother’s Day Classic and walk all over breast cancer. It is a fantastic fundraiser and all funds are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation and every dollar and effort counts.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about what could’ve been with the improved treatments we have now, but if we continue to help fund this life-saving research then hopefully nobody else has to imagine what could have been. 

This year the Women in Super Mother’s Day Classic celebrates comes of age turning 21. In that time more than 1.2 million Australians have walked and run their way to raising more than $33.2 million for breast cancer research. On Sunday, May 13 at event sites all over Australia the community will again unite for the Mother of all Classics and walk all over breast cancer. The GIANTS are proud to support the Mother’s Day Classic and will join the local community to walk all over breast cancer at the Parramatta event on May 13. To join us or find out more, click here.