Buck's story

Rugby legend recalls
When rugby legend, Buck Shelford, publicly shared his experiences with lymphoma last year, he knew many of his audience would be hearing about the disease for the first time.

Buck is well aware just how little we know about the blood cancer – he had never heard of it himself before his diagnosis in May 2007.

So the former All Black was happy to throw his weight behind the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation’s (LBF) ongoing campaign to raise public awareness.

Recalling his own experience, Buck says: “I visited my GP after being irritated by a persistently watering eye. I was given some eye drops and saw no improvement so I went to see an optometrist who found a cyst. They performed a small operation and the biopsy showed lymphoma.”

Lymphoma is the sixth most common cancer in the country, affecting almost 800 people every year. However, it can be difficult to diagnose as it presents in many different ways. The most common symptoms are swelling in the neck, underarm region or groin, unexplained weight loss and fatigue.

Buck encourages people to be vigilant. "If you notice something is wrong, do something about it and get it checked out as early detection can make a big difference.”