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NSW SENIORS FESTIVAL : 11-24 MARCH 2024 REACH BEYOND SIMMO TAKES THE FIGHT TO DEMENTIA by Greg Martin
Your writer and a mate , John Sparkes , last month attended the NRL Sports
Cricketing legend , Doug Walters , was among the throng which rocked up to the Pioneer Tavern for the NRL Sports Lunch . He ’ s pictured here with Panthers legend Royce Simmons , who is raising vital funds to slow or find a cure for dementia .
Lunch at Penrith ’ s Pioneer Tavern , with funds raised helping to boost the Royce Simmons Foundation coffers .
Penrith legend , Simmo , was diagnosed with dementia in late 2021 , and when he announced the diagnosis publicly in January 2022 , the rugby league world was shocked .
Anyone who played with , against or watched Simmo on the footy field couldn ’ t believe that someone as tough as he could be touched by the mongrel of a thing .
Royce was never one to take a backward step on the playing field , and he wasn ’ t going to go down without a fight .
The 10-Test hooker immediately began exploring if and how he could help slow the
dreaded condition ’ s progress .
And typical of this wonderful man , he began to think of others afflicted with the condition – them and their families .
Thus , was born the Royce Simmons Foundation which raises funds to enable researchers to find a cure for dementia and support their loved ones .
The foundation has raised , to quote former Sports Minister , Mike Cleary , “ a motza ” through donations and sponsorships , to fund three Royce Simmons Foundation Mid-Career Research Fellowships .
These fellowships – each worth $ 377,000 – enable physician recipients to have a career change researching a cure for the mongrel .
Tough ? Where Simmo spat the pavement cracked !
Despite rising to the highest echelon in league , Simmo has never forgotten where it all began , back playing bush footy for Goolagong .
Despite the mongrel , Simmo and a handful of mates , have raised funds for each junior league area the Happy Hooker and his Merry Men and Women have traversed in two 300km Royce ’ s Big Walks .
The first from Goolagong to Bathurst and the second , from Dubbo to Bathurst .
Each evening along the route , Royce hosted a Sportsman Dinner with proceeds and donations along the journey directed to the local district rugby league and to help fund the fight against dementia .
Anyway , back to the Pioneer Tavern fundraiser .
I hadn ’ t spoken to Simmo since early April 2022 when we were among the friends who attended the funeral of former Penrith player and mate to many , Steve Snell .
“ I told him , like everyone else , I was shattered to hear of his diagnosis , but was buoyed when he replied , “ it ’ ll have to work bloody hard to get me ”.
So as Royce strolled through the throng towards his table , I put myself in his pathway , wondering whether if the condition had affected him for him not to recognise me .
“ Harpo , you bast--- ,” he said , pumping my hand .
I got as much a kick out of that as when Royce scored those two tries to lead the Panthers to that historic 1991 grand final victory .
Chatting later at the end of the function , I remarked that he looked trim , taut and terrific , and to me it seemed as though his condition hadn ’ t deteriorated . “ I ’ m handling everything OK at the moment , but , mate , at this instant there ’ s nothing to stop its advance ,” he said , shrugging his shoulders . “ It ’ ll get me in the end . “ But in the meantime , I intend to wring everything out of what time I have left with my family and many , many friends , and continue raising funds to find a bloody cure for the mongrel .”
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BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 36 // MARCH 2024 23