Jarrod Lyle has gone home, a blessed relief after another round of chemotherapy in a Melbourne hospital.
The high-profile Australian golfer, who is battling leukaemia for the third time, was released for a break from the treatment this week and is resting at home in Torquay on the Victorian Surf Coast.
"You know what it's kind of a weird feeling, because it's kind of a safety blanket, being in hospital,'' he told Golf Australia's 'Inside The Ropes' podcast today. "Because if something goes wrong, the doctors are right there, that kind of stuff. But going home is a great feeling, home to see my girls and everyone around the house, having fun, doing all that. It makes you sort of realise that all the crap you go through is worth it, because you get to go home and see them.''
Lyle hopes to be allowed to stay at home for a few weeks with his wife Briony and children Lucy and Gemma, before resuming treatment. He acknowledges that he might never play golf again; his focus is on getting healthy.
"Golf … again … has disappeared into the background. I don't know if I'll ever be playing again, or come back for one event and do a Johnny Farnham, make a comeback tour and then disappear again and then come back again. I don't know what's going to happen with golf, but having obviously having the girls there, having two kids to take to school and that sort of fun stuff is what's driving me.''
Lyle said his weight had dropped from "the old chemo-diet'' in hospital. "It's a different-looking Jarrod Lyle, put it that way!''
Lyle, 35, who hails from Shepparton in northern Victoria, last played on the US Tour in 2016. He won two tournaments in the US in 2008.
He previously fought off bouts of leukaemia in 1998 and 2012, and he remains unfailingly optimistic. "You know that smile will always be there, no matter how bad the day is,'' he said.
Leave a good luck message for Jarrod here.
Download Golf Australia's Inside The Ropes podcast to listen to the full interview or listen here online.