Sam's got that Origin fighting spirit

Amy Formosa | 13th July 2009

FOOTY FAN: Rockhampton cancer battler Sam McCurley is counting down the sleeps until she gets to see her Origin legends at the game on Wednesday night.

IF Queensland's Origin stars show the same fighting spirit that Rockhampton's Sam McCurley has, they're assured of a series clean sweep on Wednesday.

Three years ago, doctors told Sam's family she had only a few months to live after a large brain tumour formed. But several operations and a number of tumours later, Sam and her family are refusing to give up.

Today the 13-year-old is counting down the sleeps to what promises to be one of the best nights of her life when she heads to Brisbane to cheer on her footy heroes on Wednesday.

Sam has had a tough life battling cancer since she was six. As Sam continues the fight, with regular trips to Brisbane, a doctor's visit this week will be a special one for the little rugby league fan, who has three teddies named after her number one player, Darren James Lockyer.

“My first teddy is called Locky, the second is called Darren and my third one is called James,” Sam said yesterday.

“I am so excited I won't be able to sleep the night before.”

Sam was diagnosed with a brain tumour at Christmas in 2002 and since then she has had five brain operations.

Her mother Karen said when Sam was diagnosed, she had a tumour a quarter of the size of her brain and in 2004 she was told she had three months to live after they discovered a cricket ball-sized tumour.

“We weren't willing to give up. She has been a little fighter since day one,” Karen said.

And her parents also have three other surprises up their sleeve for Sam, much to her disgust.

“I hate surprises, but I want to meet the origin commentary team and watch the Queensland players warm up in the sheds,” she said.

The young Broncos supporter, who used to sit on her dad's knee to watch football when she was a little girl, admitted she had a crush on Darren Lockyer, and was lucky enough to have already met him.

Sam met the rugby league start and got a photo with him at a training session in Brisbane at a doctor check-up when she was younger.

“It will be the best night of my life,” she said.