A young footballer is facing his battles off the field, Adrian Proszenko writes.
'Your recent visit to my son, Matt, was inspirational. You gave Matt strength and determination to remain strong until he was well again. His journey back to perfect health will be a long, long road, as you know all too well. I was told you would be encouraging for my son - you indeed were that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Tina."
For several weeks, Wests Tigers didn't want a story written on Matt Davidson. Just in case. Because not every leukaemia story has a happy ending. But the above words - penned by Matt's mother, Tina, to fellow footballer and cancer survivor Jamie Simpson - are proof that this one is a humdinger.
If everything went to plan, Davidson would be playing in the NRL now. The Tigers are down on props and the 19-year-old was one of the best going around the National Youth Competition. But in mid-May, just as he was poised to get the NRL call-up he had dreamed of, he started getting bad pains in his back.
A few weeks later, he was in hospital wasting away. And the worst part was no one knew what was wrong with him.
"You have no idea," Tina said of the ordeal. "You're in hospital for 15 days and don't have any idea why your big boy is disappearing in a lather of sweat.
"He wasn't eating and in immense pain no matter what they gave him. They put him in intensive care and that was the end of me.
"They had every specialist in there. They said, 'Don't worry, if he was really sick, he'd been in Westmead [Hospital]'."
Then they took him to Westmead Hospital. The diagnosis was leukaemia.
"I didn't really know what leukaemia was," Tina said. "And [the doctor] comes in and says he had a 20 to 60percent chance when he first got in there.
"We came in one morning and there he was. Bright yellow, sunken, black eyes, black tongue and he was going 'nhnnnhh' when he was trying to talk.
"I looked at him and he didn't know where he was. His eyes were twisting around his head. I was reduced to tears, I was a blubbering mess."
Davidson was a mess as well. Normally, he tips the scales at about 105kilograms. At the height of his illness, he dropped 32.
Tigers coach Tim Sheens popped in but a big dose of morphine meant Davidson couldn't recall the visit. But he will never forget the acts of kindness that followed.
Even though he was too sick to continue his day job as an apprentice refrigeration/air-conditioning mechanic, the pay cheques kept coming in. Turns out some of his workmates at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club were setting aside some of their own pay to help out the Davidson family. The NRL sent hampers over. Teammates spliced up footage of games to lift his spirits. But perhaps the most moving gesture came from a man he had never met before but who knew exactly what he was going through.
South Sydney player development manager John Hutchinson heard about Davidson's plight and figured a visit from Jamie Simpson - the Rabbitohs back who beat cancer twice to realise his NRL dream - might lift his spirits. Turned out he was right.
"[The visit] was a real inspiration," said Davidson, the son of Balmain Hall of Fame inductee John Davidson.
"He was here for three hours or so, just talking about the effects [of chemotherapy]. His main focus was football as well and he wasn't going to let it beat him. That's what I have on my mind, we were thinking alike."
Simpson's story is just as inspirational. He finally beat Hodgkin's lymphoma with a stem-cell transplant after six months of painful chemotherapy couldn't do the trick. He is proof you can beat cancer and then live your dreams.
"When I found out he was in hospital, I jumped at the chance to do it," Simpson said.
"I know how hard it is … not being able to play footy.
"One thing I did through all my chemotherapy was stay positive, not just for me but for my family. I was an emotional rock for them because they were taking it harder than me, really. It tends to be that way.
"I just had to reiterate to him that as long as you think positive things, you'll get a positive outcome … It's a wonderful thing, the mind.
"It's probably more mental than physical, getting through chemotherapy and all that cancer stuff. If you think negative things, things won't go your way."
Things are starting to go Davidson's way. He's out of hospital. He's up to 83 kilograms.
He has just one more dose of chemo to go. And the next time he meets Simpson, if everything goes to script, it will be in the NRL.