Jeremy Finlayson pays tribute to wife after Port Adelaide beat Sydney Swans
Jeremy Finlayson fights back tears as Port Adelaide star pays emotional tribute to terminally ill woman after scoring three goals to help his side beat Sydney Swans: ‘I love her so much’
Jeremy Finlayson fought back tears as he paid emotional tribute to his terminally ill wife after helping Port Adelaide to victory over Sydney.
The AFL star kicked three goals as Ken Hinkley’s side bounced back from their Showdown loss to rivals Adelaide Crows to win 66064 on Saturday night.
And Finlayson spoke about his wife, Kellie, battling stage 4 cancer, following his side’s victory.
‘I hope she’s watching. I love her so much,” he said on Channel 7.
“This is just a reward for persevering and doing for Kell and Soph back home. I’m happy to play football here and do what I love.’
Jeremy Finlayson fought back tears as he paid tribute to his terminally ill wife
Kellie Finlayson is in stage 4 colon cancer (pictured with the couple’s daughter, Sophie)
The couple got married last month and Finlayson told Channel 7 he ‘loves her so much’
Kellie, 27, discovered in November 2021 that she had a tumor in her gut after experiencing painful symptoms that were first thought to be side effects of her pregnancy with daughter Sophia.
After Sophia was born, a colonoscopy discovered a tumor the size of a tennis ball. But after a year of intensive treatment, she hoped the cancer was gone — only for a CT scan to show that it had spread and spread to her lungs.
Finlayson, who is now receiving treatment on the Gold Coast, revealed that while the illness “100 percent robbed her” of her first year of motherhood with Sophia, that wasn’t the biggest battle she had to overcome.
“I entered early menopause. Whether I can come back from that, I don’t know,” she told the Life Uncut podcast this week.
“That was honestly my biggest struggle, knowing that I’m not allowed to give Sophia siblings, which is so hard. We always planned to have a big family.
“It’s just something I’ve always wanted. It was the hardest pill to swallow of all the pills I’ve taken in the last 18 months.
“We kind of came to terms with it, knowing how many options we have.”
Finlayson explained that adoption is no longer possible due to her terminal diagnosis, which means “no one is going to give me a child.”
The couple explored the possibility of adoption, but are unable to do so because she is terminally ill
The couple married in early March this year, after their wedding was postponed last October due to her cancer diagnosis.
“I wanted to get married with my hair and I started losing it,” Kellie told the Adelaide Advertiser.
She wanted their wedding to be a quiet, private affair and “a surprise to everyone except our bridal party and the family and friends in attendance.”
The event took just three weeks to plan, with help from the diligent bridal party and Kellie’s modeling agency, The Models
More to follow.