JUSTIN LANGER: The McGrath Foundation is helping more cancer sufferers than ever before

“Shake the hand that shook the world”, are the words emblazoned on the forearms of a mate of mine’s three sons.

Their grandfather had the same tattoo on his arm.

That mate, John Hurley, is as Aussie a bloke you can meet. A high-school teacher and sports coach in Sydney, he says it as it is, and his honesty and guidance has been an influence on hundreds of young men.

A lover of sport, one of his bucket list dreams was to visit the West Indies to watch a Test match. On the morning of day one in Antigua nearly 20 years ago, I passed five days’ worth of tickets to him through the front gate of the ground.

Dressed in a baggy Hawaiian shirt, shorts, floppy white hat and sunnies, he smiled and wished me all the best for the game. Eight hours later, he attempted to thank me, but the rum punch, music, dancing and marijuana smoke that infiltrates the festive air in Antigua had got the better of him.

While he couldn’t talk much, the smile on his face was enough to tell me he had had one of the best days of his life.

I was so happy for him. His smile assured me that my friend, who I first met in London where we played cricket together when I was 18 years old, had just added a layer to his life of memories.

This week in Sydney I met up with John for the first time in many years.

Health challenges have left him blind, without one leg and on dialysis for his kidneys four days a week. Seeing him in his wheelchair was a little confronting because I always remembered him as the sun-leathered, sports junkie who was a very talented cricketer when I first met him.

But, as we talked, I sensed a calmness in his current situation.

He told me: “Before I got sick, I had become incredibly cynical with the world. I got tired of player managers, greedy parents, entitled athletes, smart-arse students, and the general negativity in the world. My cynicism wasn’t healthy.

“Then I got sick, and a funny thing happened. I learned about the impact of kindness and gratefulness. Over the last few years, I have been moved by the kindness of people in my life. As a result, I think I have become more kind myself. That’s a good thing. Because people have been so kind to me, I feel it is my responsibility to be kind back to others.”

“I have also learned to be grateful for what I have, rather than what I don’t have. Gratefulness is often a lost source of happiness and inspiration. I live in a lucky country, where the health care system looks after me, like you cannot believe. And the people around me, my family, friends, carers, doctors, physios and nurses have been extraordinary.

“Without all of this, I simply wouldn’t be here talking and having a coffee with my old mate right now ” he added with a gracious smile.

Like his sons’ tattoos, he shook my world with his frankness, composure and the lessons he has learned through a difficult period.

While John reminded me of the power of kindness, my old teammate Glenn McGrath has epitomised the difference that generosity and humanity can have to those who need it the most.

His foundation, the McGrath Foundation emerged from a deeply personal journey that began when his beautifully, funny and happy wife Jane was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997.

During her treatment, she was struck by the incredible support she received from her breast care nurses.

Her experience led her and Glenn to establish the McGrath Foundation in 2005, with the primary mission of ensuring every Australian family experiencing breast cancer could have access to a dedicated breast care nurse.

When Jane tragically passed away in 2008, her family and friends were devasted. But through them, her legacy has grown into one of Australia’s most recognised and respected charitable organisations.

The foundation’s signature pink has become synonymous with hope and support, and last week it was particularly visible during the Sydney Pink Test, which takes place annually at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The event is heart warming and regularly sends shivers up your spine.

Being with Glenn during the Test match, I could feel the same comforting sense of calmness and pride that I sensed in John Hurley later in the week.

His interview with Channel Seven’s Mel McLaughlin was beautiful and is really worth a watch. Mel lost her younger sister to lung cancer 10 years ago and the way she and Glenn talked re-enforced the effect of care and support.

They talked about how important it was to have people being there when you need them the most.

The McGrath Foundation’s core value is that “no one should go through cancer without care”, and having seen the challenging journey many times before, those words are so true.

Recently they have branched out to nurses for all forms of cancer, not just breast cancer. This new chapter has been received brilliantly and promises to spread the art of kindness, care and support for those individuals and families on the cancer journey.

Glenn and his band of incredible supporters stands as a testament to how personal adversity can be transformed into a force for positive change.

His calmness and pride are tangible as he has watched the foundation evolve from a personal struggle into a national support network.

It’s an amazing experience when you sit with people who have come out of the other end of disaster. There is something energising about their perspectives on the world.

Another friend I met in Sydney this week, Colin Bettles, was bashed and left for dead in San Francisco on July 4 last year.

One minute he was eating a pepperoni pizza and walking over the road to take photos of the fireworks, the next he wakes up in a hospital bed having spent two weeks in a coma in intensive care.

He showed me a letter he wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong in December.

In it he said: “Your Ministerial support, by way of engaging Mr Ketter and his consular team, and others who helped out at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, provided welcome respite not only for my partner Sue, but also my family and friends who were also experiencing deep distress and anxiety, whilst I was believed to be missing.

“I’m extremely grateful for this genuine care and support, in also helping to safeguard my eventual safe return home, to Australia.

“I’d also like to extend sincere acknowledgement to the medical staff and teams at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Centre.

“Despite being one of seven people admitted as a John Doe on that night, and given the significantly serious social issues occurring currently in San Francisco, including drug and homelessness epidemics, I received professional and humane medical attention.

“This humane care in the critical period, was vitally important to aid my recovery.

“Your role in providing support during these difficult times, is invaluable to the families and friends of the people experiencing such trauma. For this I’m extremely thankful, and my friends and family all join me in saying the strong and timely support you provide also deserves recognition.”

Often our healthcare system gets a bad rap, just as our governments do, but maybe it is just that we only hear about the cases that don’t go right, rather than those that do.

From what I have heard and seen this week, there are a lot of grateful people out there who are being looked after by amazing people within out great country.

My daughter Ali has a T-shirt that says, “It’s Cool To Be Kind”. What a great message.

For Christmas she gave me a T-shirt with the same motto printed on the front. I love it and have worn it proudly through the Christmas and New Year period. Maybe that message should be extended to It’s Cool to be Kind, Grateful, Caring and Happy.

This sounds better to me than It’s Cool To Be Cynical, Angry, Negative and Grumpy.