Brisbane legend and beloved commentator Jonathan Brown has opened up on his past few months, which involved brain surgery to remove a low-grade tumour.
In an interview with Fox Footy to be broadcast on Tuesday, Brown said his life was flipped upside down in a second.
“Seven weeks ago, I was training the house down. Fit as a fiddle, and I was shooting the lights out on the golf course. A day later, your life changes,” he said in the interview with Fox Footy.
“I didn't know. But I was walking around with a ticking time bomb in my head.
“So it's a great message for everyone, not just ex-footballers. For everyone. I have got a few more plates in my skull after they put the bone back into your head, and the count is 19 plates and 80 screws, the majority around my face. We have got a few extra (my brain surgeon) Gavin (Davis) has put in, and it's a fair count.”
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A proud family man, Brown said one of the hardest parts of the ordeal was telling his dad, Brian, about the tumour after the pair had lost Brown's mother, Mary, three years ago from a brain haemorrhage.
An even tougher conversation occurred for Brown when he told his children what was about to happen.
“Jack is 13, little Min (Macy) is 11, and Olivia is 16," he said. "Liv is a bit more like me; she is a bit more stoic.
"Jack is a bit of a rugby league knockabout, but he is the sensitive one in the family. And he came and gave me the biggest cuddle I have ever copped from anyone.
“And he had tears, and he just wouldn't let go. He squeezed me so tight he nearly snapped me in half. S***, you sort of think about it. And the worst thing you want to do in your life is break your kid's heart, and you feel like you were on the precipice. I tell you what, I was ready to fight when I saw their faces after that.”
Brown will return to broadcasting in the coming weeks after making a recovery.
