Kiwi tour pro Michael Hendry is using his cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment regime as inspiration to fuel a return to professional golf.
In the days before his third cycle of chemotherapy in mid-July, Michael Hendry played Te Arai Links, north of Auckland, for the very first time. It was the first time he had played golf since receiving the shock diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in April and spent six straight weeks in hospital to bring his blood count back to a level where the medical staff could identify exactly what they were dealing with.
When he and wife Tara arrived at Te Arai Links, Hendry was 13 kilograms lighter, had a PICC line still inserted in his left arm and on a drizzly, windy North Island day, wondered why on earth he was even considering teeing it up.
“It’s a beautiful place up there, right on the beach,” Hendry recalls….