At 38 RUBEN KRUGER still has the body of the rugby player who warmed South African hearts as a member of 1995’s World Cup-winning Bok team.
But close-up you notice the surgical scars on his shaved head. Over coffee he chats as if twice having malignant tumours removed from his brain is normal.
“I didn’t want to give up. I wanted to fight back,” he says of his reaction nine years ago when the first tumour was discovered. “Giving up is still not an option. My children are too young; there’s no way I’m quitting now.”
His family is a reason to keep fighting. “I want to see my daughters off to their matric farewells and watch them get married,” Ruben says. Zoe is six and Isabella is three.
The first tumour was discovered by chance when a knock to the head during a rugby match nine years ago required an examination. The tumour was large but benign. It wasn’t removed because it was situated in the part of his brain that controlled motor and muscle functions and a slip-up during surgery could have left him paralysed and affected his speech.
But it ended Ruben’s rugby career. He then visited controversial spiritual healer TB Joshua in Nigeria with former Bulls player Jaco van der Westhuizen who was battling knee problems.
All was well for six years. Ruben had annual brain scans and tried to live a normal life. But in January 2007 a second tumour was diagnosed and surgically removed.
Ruben sees himself as a rugby player, not a cancer victim. He and wife Lize plan to set up a support group for brain cancer patients. “We want to start a website where all the latest research will be available,” Lize says.
“I’m not afraid of dying - I’m ready for it,” Ruben says. “I just don’t want to go now. There are still too many things I want to do.”
- For more information on the brain cancer support group call 079-916-1968.
