The Corowa resident was a promising young athlete as a teenager, ranking number two in Australia in the decathlon and working towards a career in the AFL.
He was selected by Footscray with pick 41 in the 1995 AFL Draft just before doctors diagnosed him with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, a very rare type of throat cancer that derailed his career.
“The doctors said you’ve got 10 months to live, you should probably go travel with your parents because you might not have much time left,” he told The Free Press.
“I grew up always wanting to be a professional athlete so to get that news when my career was just beginning was devastating.”
Despite doctors telling him that his cancer was inoperable, and that treatment would likely kill him, the now 41-year-old personal trainer said he went through with radiation treatment that miraculously staved off the disease.
“I got through the treatment and tried to make a return to the field. I did preseason with the club (Footscray) and was fine but when I played a couple of VFL games, that’s when the fatigue started to set in.
“I would get severe cramps in my neck if I looked down and it was hard to run around because I had no saliva from the radiation killing my salivary glands, so I always need to drink water.”
Shaun eventually relinquished his AFL career after a short stint with Geelong, but his passion for health and fitness never abated and neither have his close shaves with death. On top of cancer, Shaun has broken 27 bones in his body and punctured both his lungs in a motorbike accident. And yet it is these setbacks that have only seemed to add motivation for him to keep his body in peak shape.
“I’ve got full chronic arthritis in my knees. It takes me 40 minutes to warm up before I put a bar on my shoulder to do a squat, but what I’ve found with a really good thorough warm up you can still do anything.
“If I don’t train, I get sorer.
“For people that think their times passed or they have those injuries, I can say don’t give up on it.
“My doctors have been amazed that I’ve been able to keep on doing this, but they’ve just said to keep on doing what I’m doing because it seems to be working.”
Shaun has carved out a successful 23-year career as a personal trainer, where he’s trained professional athletes and helped people through the similar physical limitations that he’s gone through himself, while applying a wholistic approach through nutritional aspects.
Along with his wife Carmen, the pair have opened Epic Lifestyle – Functional Fitness in Corowa after moving from Queensland eight months ago. For Shaun, the training environment he creates takes him back to the green turfed oval and white sticks – a place he might find himself again, but in a different capacity.
“With the type of training we do in groups, it still feels like I’m out there playing footy.
“I’ve just completed the Next Coach AFL program to work towards becoming an AFL coach –I’d love to be involved with the game again.”
7°C