BRUCE McAvaney has revealed his one regret since news of his battle with cancer broke last week.
The legendary sports broadcaster announced he has been suffering from leukaemia after being diagnosed with the illness more than two years ago.
Well-wishes poured in for the 63-year-old when the news went public, but if he had his way, nobody else would ever have known about his personal fight.
“I’m being completely sincere here, I would have liked to have kept it a secret but it was unfortunate, I couldn’t in the end so we didn’t,” McAvaney said on Channel Seven’s Sunrise on Wednesday morning.
The Seven icon thanked the Australian public for its support and said he was feeling well at present, hosting the network’s coverage of the Golden Slipper last weekend before he prepares to step into the box for the upcoming AFL season.
“It’s made me feel rather emotional at times but I am feeling so well, so (it’s) also a little confusing and slightly embarrassing,” McAvaney said.
“What I have learnt over the last three or four days is the strength of goodwill and how much people can help people that are in a much graver position than I am, so I have really felt that and it’s made me quite emotional.
“I’ve been very grateful for the response I’ve had and I won’t forget it for a long, long time.”
McAvaney has been a staple of Channel Seven’s Olympic and tennis coverage, but he missed this year’s Australian Open because he was exhausted from a gruelling 2016.
He admitted while he doesn’t spend too much time dwelling on his health issues these days, they have taken their toll on him in recent times.
“It came as a bit of a shock because I’ve always felt I’ve been pretty fit and well,” he said. “It was a little worrying, there’s no question about that ... (but) it’s been in the back of my mind rather than the front of my mind in the last couple of years.
“I was exhausted at the end of last year, my immune system has probably been slightly compromised, I’m getting older and I work reasonably hard so maybe that’s part of it too. But I have felt pretty tired in those last couple of years.”
The veteran broadcaster said while chemotherapy may be an option down the track, it’s not a treatment he requires in the near future.
McAvaney told the Herald Sun he plans to continue working until at least the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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