Luke Lewis ends time at Panthers after cancer scare

Penrith’s Luke Lewis has ended his time with the Panthers early after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Lewis underwent surgery last Monday and will make a full recovery, and revealed to an Australian newspaper the details of his cancer scare.

The Australian international found out about the cancer after undergoing a routine scan following Penrith’s loss to Wests Tigers in July.

Lewis said: “I hurt my neck in that game, and the scans showed a lump on my thyroid. The doctors wanted to take a biopsy to make sure everything was alright.

“The biopsy came back showing that I had abnormal cells and I needed to see a specialist. They cut some more out and told me it was thyroid cancer.”

But Lewis was reassured that everything was OK, and the 29-year old would not need to be treated using chemotherapy. However he would need surgery, which would end his career at the Panthers.

Lewis said: “From the start it was made clear to me that everything would be okay, that I’d only need tablets.

“But I needed to go back and have my thyroid removed, which happened last Monday. I’ve just got to stay on the tablets to make sure my hormone levels are sweet.

“It won’t affect my football and I reckon if there was one more week I’d be able to play for Penrith again.”

Lewis believes he will be 100 per cent fit to play for Cronulla next season, but the scar tissue is too tender for Lewis to contemplate making a return to the field before Penrith’s final games of the regular season.