“All I wanted was to feel normal”: Johnny Ruffo reflects on brain cancer treatment
Former Home and Away star Johnny Ruffo has recently been declared cancer-free after a two year long battle with brain cancer.
In 2017, a seven-centimetre tumour was located in his brain and he underwent an operation to remove it. It was only after this operation that he went through chemotherapy and radiation until he was declared cancer free.
Ruffo, 31, is now paying it forward after teaming up with Amazon and the Starlight Children’s Foundation to give back to kids undergoing cancer treatment.
"I know what it's like being in hospital," Ruffo explained to 9Honey Celebrity.
"Every time I step foot in a hospital in general, it brings me back to all the times I had to visit hospitals myself. For children I imagine it's so much worse."
"Seeing and working with foundations like Starlight, you realise how valuable they are and how amazing they are," Ruffo says.
"Quite often you'll see kids walking in [to the Starlight room] and they're not looking too great. But they'll come out with these big smiles on their face.
"I just think that if these kids can just stop thinking about everything that's going on in their life for just that moment, and have fun and smile and laugh, then it's just worth everything."
Ruffo admitted that the impacts of cancer still make him emotional.
"I felt the same when I was going through all of my chemo and radiation and everything to do with cancer. All I wanted was to feel normal, for a small moment," the actor explains.
"There are so many side effects, you just want to feel normal for a bit and I think Starlight does that. They take you to another world and you forget about everything for a bit."
Ruffo says that he’s in awe of the children’s resilience and their ability to stay positive.
"Working with these kids and seeing some of these kids, they're so positive. They're just so amazing, I love these kids. They're so strong," Ruffo said.
"Nobody should have go through this, nobody should have to go to hospital and spend long amounts of time in hospital.
"It's horrible, it's really horrible. Anything I can do to help give back… I think foundations like Starlight, they deserve all the recognition in the world."