Young Doncaster East starlet Haresh Sitharather is facing one of the biggest fights of his life this football season, as he battles a rare form of cancer, when he should be alongside his Lions teammates on their inaugural Premier Division campaign.
Sitharather hunts the football during the 2019 Grand Final. Photo – Davis Harrigan Photography
Sitharather, 22, debuted for the Lions back in 2017 as a plucky 18 year old and has since gone on to play 26 games for the 2018 and 2019 premiers, climaxing with the 2019 Grand Final victory over Croydon.
Like many his age, Sitharather would have been itching to get back on the training track as the probability of local football became better and better throughout the slog of the year that was 2020.
Finally, in late November, he and his peers were ready to start their preparations for the 2021 season, but on night one Sitharather decided to rest up, citing a dodgy shoulder to Senior Coach Steve Buckle.
“I think he turned up to the first training of the pre-season back in November and he walked out to me and said my shoulder’s not feeling right so I’m going to have a rest tonight and we all launched in with a bit of banter out there, you know it’s the first night and he’s missing training,” Buckle said.
“I told him that’s fine and to go get it checked out,”
“A couple of days later he rung me up and let me know that he’s got a tumour in his shoulder – called a Ewing Sarcoma – a rare form of bone cancer which goes from his shoulder down to his elbow,”
According to orthoinfo.aaos.org, Ewing sarcoma is a rare type of cancer that occurs in bones or in the soft tissue around the bones and whilst it is usually found in children and teenagers, it can happen at any age.
They can develop in any bone, but usually affect the long bones, such as the thighbone (femur), shinbone (tibia), and upper arm bone (humerus).
Sitharather faces 30 weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, followed by extensive surgery which Buckle says should hopefully occur in June.
The lightweight but skilful Sitharather , who is a product of the Beverley Hills Junior Football Club and also spent a number of his junior years by the river playing at Rutherglen, has been down to the Lions Den – Zerbes Reserve – over the course of the pre-season as an avenue to escape his new, harsh, reality.
“I think it helps him being around his mates and stuff, I think he might have to go through it all again a couple of times when he sees somebody new, but after that it’s good for him to just be around everybody and escape for a little bit,” Buckle said.
“Some weeks he’s in the hospital for the full week and other times he’s only in for the day, but it’s been a wild ride for him.”
The club are doing as much as they can to support Haresh and his family, with one of their key steps a GoFundMe page aiming at raising $20,000 to help cover the costs of his treatment and they’re hoping the broader football and netball community can help dig deep for a young man who is described ‘as a gentle, loving, kind bloke who is loved by everyone, gets along with everyone and loves his mates‘ by teammate, boss (Sitharather was heading into his fourth year as an apprentice carpenter) and friend Tom Gordon.
“We’re just trying to raise as much money as we can for him, to help cover the medical expenses and maybe at the end of it all a little bit of money for them to be able to get away and escape Melbourne or even Australia and be a family again,”
“We’re hoping that reaches the football community and people can dig deep.”
To donate to Haresh’s cause click here.