My Journey Review

As Australian’s we love our sport stars. We praise and worship them for their leadership, natural ability and inspiring influence on the field, but we don’t normally find an athlete who we love so much on the field but admire even more off.

That one athlete was Jim Stynes. A Irishman who came to Australia at the age of 18 to try his hand at Aussie Rules, but soon became one of the most respected footballers the sport has seen.

But while his football was his profession, his off field life soon became his passion, inspiring thousands and thousands of young troubled Australians through his ‘Reach program’. A year has passed since Jim Stynes lost his great fight with cancer, but his story lives on in his autobiography ‘My Journey’. The book is an inspiring and intriguing memoir of Stynes three year battle

with cancer, having been diagnosed with the disease in 2009.

As the reader, you are taken on a journey from his early days in Ireland, to then moving to Australia to take up a contract with the Melbourne Demons. He explains the fear and shyness he experienced when he first stepped foot in the football club, with no experience of the sport and only a background in Gaelic Football. Stynes though soon became one the finest footballers to play for Melbourne and was rewarded with the Brownlow medal in 1991. But as he explains in the novel, it’s his off-field life which really inspired him to achieve greater things.

Throughout his career Stynes helped thousands of troubled young Australian teens through his hugely successful Reach organisation. One of those teens was radio and television personality Jules Lund who became great mates with Stynes.

The book though, is mainly centered around Stynes battle with cancer, and how he juggled his chemotherapy with being a father while also trying to attend important Melbourne Football Club press conferences as the clubs president. But as his illness got worse,  he had to let go of his commitments with his beloved Demons and focus more on spending his last few months with his wife and two children.

It is an inspiring and breathtaking read of one man’s fight to get the most out of life even when you are only given a short period of time. It tackles all the issues of love, loss and sacrifice in a way that will make you respect the man even more.

‘My Journey’ by Jim Stynes is an amazing but emotional read which is sure to get readers reaching for the tissues.

Rating 5/5