'Try and stop me': Cameron Shelton's message to rare cancer

The 24-year-old has been missing from Canberra's NPL refereeing circle since his diagnosis with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare bone cancer in his spine, in March last year.

He is fighting to defeat the odds, undertaking 14 cycles of the harshest chemotherapy drugs, which put him in hospital nine times and on life support at one point.

Next it was major spinal surgery, where they fused two vertebrae with screws to eliminate the risk of his spine collapsing. Followed by six weeks of radiation therapy in the middle of lockdown.

"I was pretty much refereeing right up until I got diagnosed in March last year," he said.

"I was told that at least for the next year, I couldn't be active at all. So a lot of what I loved in life was taken away from me.

"I have sort of accepted that my referring career is over.

"I can't run to start with, I can only walk and even then, walking at times for me is quite difficult. So the quality of the refereeing would be pretty poor."

In January he was in remission, before the same nerve pain returned in April and he knew something was wrong.

The cancer had spread, this time to three other spots.

This meant four more cycles of chemotherapy - each cycle 24/7 for the best part of six days - before deciding the path forward, with radiation and more surgery likely.

"With reoccurring Ewing sarcoma there is real no set treatment plan because it's unknown what works best," Shelton said.

"But we're expecting that I'll have to have an even more nasty spinal surgery where they put a titanium cage in there. If so, it's been indicated to me that I'll never be able to be active again.

"I had some meetings with my oncologist ... and he pretty much said due to the cancer returning, due to the fact that it's a rare cancer, due to the fact that its spread, 'You've now got a 20 percent chance to live'.

"My attitude is 'We're gonna be in that 20 percent boat', mainly because I'm stubborn. Try and stop me."

Shelton is leaning into his stubbornness. Even though he struggles to walk at times he completed the City2Surf last weekend to raise money for the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse.

In doing so, he raised $8000 for a place he knows all too well having spent weeks there for treatment.

"I used to run the City2Surf," he said.

"I wanted to do it this year even if I had to be pushed in a wheelchair the entire way. But I actually managed to do the entire walk without it.

"We're still not quite sure how I did it. I guess I was just really determined."

On Thursday, though, it was all about him - as uncomfortable as it made him - during Gungahlin United's trivia night.

The Brindabella Christian College logistics administrator started playing there at age four, before he discovered refereeing at 12.

"When I was 11 I actually went to the club on registration day and tried becoming a referee. But they said I was too young," he said.

"Then the following year before I turned 12 I went back.

"So as soon as I can, I'll definitely be back out on the sidelines writing notes and coaching referees. That's still definitely my happy place, and I'd prefer to be doing that than anything else."

More than 150 people gathered for United's trivia night to raise close to $8000 for Shelton.

He said part of it would go to charity, part to a holiday, and the majority to bills.

"It's very humbling and special to see that support. I can't really express my gratitude enough," he said.

"Every weekend of my life I've pretty much only known one thing, and that's football or refereeing, and for the majority of it with Gungahlin United.

"So it means a lot to come from them, and it's been extended to the wider football community in Canberra as well.

"My parents have been simply amazing too and they've actually been paying most of my finances. So it'll allow me to give some money back to them.

"It'll give me some financial security until I can go back to work, and I haven't been able to have a holiday for two years and it might even allow me to have one of those eventually when I get out of treatment.

"I'm also very blessed by my colleagues. Because I honestly don't think I would have been able to get through this so far without any of them.

"They've supported me and have been pretty much my strength the entire time, so far. So to have those different communities showing support for me really makes a difference in my mental health but also in my energy to keep going and keep fighting."

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