back but he had a couple of partners and that's when I thought I was in a bit of strife." O'Donnell did not go to the team doctor. "I did nothing. Make no mistake, I'm no martyr in all of this, in fact, I was motivated by pure selfishness." O'Donnell's World Cup highlights include 4–39 against Zimbabwe. "The team was on a campaign and I didn't want to jeopardize it so I just tried to keep myself up. I had a few talks with Bob [Simpson] and Bruce [Reid] but I didn't tell them what I thought it was. I didn't want to worry anyone because we all had a job to do... and we did the job." O'Donnell says he told Simpson after Australia won the semi final in Pakistan. "I knew I was within a week of going home to find out what was wrong and it really frightened me... Before the final at our team meeting I was fined by teammates for not being part of celebrations. That was fine. But I needed to tell someone." O'Donnell went to Warrigal Private Hospital as soon as he got back: I was operated on that afternoon. As soon as I woke the surgeon, John Bartlett, was sitting on the end of my bed to tell me the bi-op was malignant... [Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma] John found it hard to tell me and I found it hard to accept... I had to ring Mum and Dad in Deniliquin to tell them there was some bad news. Somehow you float through it even though you are scared s—less... The hardest part is the initial part, once you know what's in front of you it gets better. I don't want to trivialise cancer in any way. You have to let the emotion out then sit down and become realistic ... I never asked if my life was in the balance. My parents taught me, my school taught me, sport taught me but in particular cancer taught me that trust is the most powerful emotion we have. I trusted my doctors and nurses implicitly. It was amazing what I learnt about the power of the mind and how important trust is... There were the "how in the hell did I get it?" moments. No one knows, it could have been getting hit in a footy game or a cricket ball 10 years earlier. O'Donnell's injury