Young rugby player's trip to Specsavers turned life upside down before remarkable return
Saturday September 7 signalled the start of the youth rugby season in Wales, but for 16-year-old Finn Jones it was the end of a long and brutal road back to the field of play.
In November, 2023, the talented outside-half was diagnosed with a brain tumour which turned out to be cancerous. Following two brain surgeries, chemotherapy and proton beam therapy, Finn defied the odds by making his comeback for Llandeilo Youth at Amman United last weekend, just 10 months after diagnosis.
"It goes without saying this has been a very difficult journey for Finn and our family," Finn's father Grant told WalesOnline. "We have been through hell and back as a family but the way Finn has dealt with it has been a credit to us all, his rugby family were there for him throughout and lifted him up on his darkest days.
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"He's basically had to learn to walk again after all the treatment he's had but he's smashed the gym, eaten well and now he's back playing rugby. It's an absolute miracle. He managed to get 10 minutes as a replacement for Llandeilo Youth against Amman United which was amazing considering all he's been through and he's even hoping to do the Cardiff Half Marathon in a few weeks."
Finn's recovery has been remarkable but even though the worst appears to be behind them his family are very keen to raise awareness to help others who may be going through a similar ordeal. In Finn's case, a trip to Specsavers in Ammanford ended up saving his life.
The message is: a regular, repetitive headache, especially if accompanied with sickness, should not be ignored.
"Finn started complaining of headaches just before he started his GCSE's," said Grant.
"The headaches were always in the morning so we thought he just didn't want to go to school or something. The headaches would clear up with a simple paracetamol but after a short while he was also getting sick in the mornings.
"We genuinely thought he'd had a bump playing rugby at some point and it was delayed concussion. Nothing else entered our heads as he was well, still playing and training, fit and healthy.
"I went through weeks of videos of him playing and training to see if he'd had a bump to the head but found nothing. We were waiting for an appointment for an MRI and eye test and decided to get him in to Ammanford Specsavers. They could see pressure on his optic nerves and referred us urgently.
"You could argue they saved his life. We went in straight away for an MRI scan and it was all pretty horrific because they told us they had found a brain tumour and a build-up of fluid.
"He was Blue lighted to the Heath Hospital in Cardiff so that Finn could have an operation to release the pressure from the cerebral fluid. He was in hospital for a week or so after that and they let him out in time for Christmas.
"There were no conclusive results from his biopsy so the surgeon decided to go in to remove the tumour just after Christmas. The operation was done whilst asleep in a sitting up position, it was a rare tumour that sat in the Pineal gland which is smack in the middle of the brain."
Initially Finn and his family thought their nightmare was over and the former Ysgol Bro Dinefwr pupil was told there was a decent chance he'd be back playing rugby in three months. But the biopsy revealed the tumour was cancerous, which meant Finn had to undergo aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy in London.
"We had the results back and unfortunately it was a cancerous tumour that basically comes to life when hormones kick in," said Finn's father Grant. "The chemotherapy was worse than the operations. It was absolutely brutal.
"It was horrific to go through as a family but Finn smashed it. Myself and Finn's mum Andrea entered a world we never knew existed. It was horrific timing because our two daughters had just gone to Australia on their travelling journeys.
"The day they phoned us to tell us they had landed safely in Brisbane was the day we had to tell them about Finn. It was just horrific because we had our two daughters breaking their hearts helpless on the other side of the world and we were on a path we knew nothing about.
"Chemotherapy loves calories but it also makes you sick and you can't eat for days and days. When you do eat you go sick.
"He'd have two or three days where he might get a bit of an appetite. What we were doing was giving him Oreo milkshakes and we were putting loads of butter, cream or ice cream in it.
"Anything just to get the calories in which he didn't know about. He dropped down massively in weight to the point where we had to change the chemotherapy around a bit because it was too much for him but he didn't want that.
"He just wanted to battle it through. There would be times he wouldn't eat anything and there'd be a text coming from his bedroom because he'd be too weak to come into our bedroom to ask us for anything. We'd get a text at 3am saying I'd love spaghetti bolognese.
"We went back and forth to Glangwili Hospital. They'd check his bloods every other day to make sure he was stable because of what the chemo does.
"One morning he woke up and said he had a bit of a sore throat which was a disaster. An infection with a simple sore throat for the average person is not serious but for him it was a case of straight to hospital within 24 hours and on to antibiotics to avoid sepsis."
Following the conclusion of chemotherapy Finn underwent proton beam therapy in London for a month. Finn's resilience has been remarkable with the support of both his friends and family pushing him through.
The togetherness of the rugby family is the stuff of legend but the support Finn received from the game was remarkable. He received messages from the likes of All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens, along with the Wales rugby team, the Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff and Dragons. Wales legend Shane Williams and current international Jac Morgan were also a big help to Finn throughout his recovery.
"On the last day of Finn's chemo, his school team Bro Dinefwr in Llandeilo were playing in the final at the Principality Stadium," said Finn's father Grant. Finn was in Cardiff Heath having his last session of chemotherapy.
"He'd asked the nurses that if he had the chemo an hour earlier they'd let him go to watch the game in the Principality Stadium.
"We managed to wheelchair him in the car and took him. He found the strength to run on the pitch with the players which was awesome.
"Finn has had messages from all around the world from the All Blacks, Wallabies, Ospreys, Scarlets, Cardiff, Dragons. We've literally had hundreds of messages from around the world inspiring him every day.
"Shane Williams, who is a good friend of mine, and Jiffy (Jonathan Davies) also sent messages. Rugby is a wonderful sport full of wonderful people who have all supported us through this and we'll never forget that."