Footy boss reveals devastating cancer update and blasts government for blocking potentially life-saving treatment: ‘It’s a shock to anybody’

Collingwood president Jeff Browne has given a devastating update on his battle with cancer as he criticized the decision to prevent potentially life-saving treatment.

Browne, 72, revealed his cancer diagnosis following the Pies’ 2023 AFL Grand Final triumph and vowed to beat the disease.

The club president, who is also the father of football journalist Tom Browne, has myeloma, a type of blood cancer that develops from plasma cells in the bone marrow.

“It’s currently incurable and that’s a shock to anyone,” Browne told 7NEWS.

She has spoken for the first time since revealing the explosive news and has undergone six rounds of chemotherapy cycles, with two more to go. She says that she is using her lover Collingwood as motivation for her.

“It’s like a football club,” he said via Seven.

He has criticized the federal government for not funding treatments that could save lives.

‘You know, you finished 17th two years ago and won the premiership two years later.

“If you fight hard, apply yourself, show discipline in your life and determination and believe, then good things will happen.”

Browne has expressed anger at the federal government’s call to delay a decision to provide public funding for CAR-T cell therapy, which has been hailed as “the future” of cancer treatment for myeloma patients.

However, the call from the Medical Services Advisory Committee has angered hundreds of terminally ill patients like Browne.

“A delay of several years in making a decision to support this will mean thousands of Australians will die unnecessarily,” Browne said.

“I can’t understand a reason to delay a decision when the consequences are so dire if you don’t.”

But Browne remains determined to beat his illness.

“I’m determined to get through it… and I have a lot to do in my life,” he said.

“If I hit the wall, I’ll hit it hard and they’ll have to scratch me.”