Belconnen United's Claudia Kendall returns home after cancer bout

For 15-year-old Claudia Kendall, it's a chance to reconnect and watch her former Blue Devils teammates after battling cancer for the past four months.

Kendall, who formerly played for the Belconnen under-17s NPLW side, completed her fifth chemotherapy treatment and returned home last week with clear signs.

The Canberra teenager was diagnosed with lymphoma in February after she came home from a rowing camp and noticed a lump on her neck.

But she found the courage to accept her fate and pulled through after an arduous fight.

"I just took it in my stride. I found out and I thought 'there's nothing I can do about it now, except to go through the process and hope for the best'," Kendall said.

"Obviously it sucks but I can't go back and change it, so I just had to make the most out of it. At the moment it's all clear. I've finished with the chemotherapy now, it's just check-ups to make sure it doesn't come back.

"Every three months I have to have a PET scan to make sure, I have to do that for the next five years."

Her father Matt Kendall described her diagnosis as the "worst day in their lives" -then the coronavirus outbreak struck.

Hospital visits were limited to one-person only, so her parents had to take turns every three weeks. She was also unable to see her brothers because they were still attending school.

"It was tough but because everyone else went into lockdown it was easier," Claudia Kendall said.

"My friends would do group FaceTimes, so it was easy to get on and socialise like that. I'm going back to school [on Tuesday], so I'll see them all again soon."

The Radford College student has been given the all-clear to start her gradual return to school, with an aim to attend full-time next term.

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Kendall was in Radford's top rowing team before her diagnosis and had an intense workload between school sport and premier league.

Capital Football is drafting an 11-week season to start in mid-July, with the ACT government expected to loosen restrictions further and allow contact training later this month.

So while Kendall has decided to take a break from football this year, she's looking forward to cheering on her former teammates from the sideline.

"I still have quite a few connections with the club, so I'm very interested and excited to watch a couple of games," she said.

"It's tough not being to do group sports because I was training 20 hours a week between rowing and football. It'll be good once everything gets back to normal.

"I'm working towards getting my general fitness back up and returning to rowing first, as my goal is to get into the top team again."