Canterbury father with stage 4 cancer determined to play 100th club rugby match

Thursday, 18 June 2026

A 45-year-old Canterbury father with stage 4 bowel cancer will play his 100th senior rugby game this weekend, while urging younger New Zealanders not to ignore potential signs of bowel cancer.

Aircraft engineer Blair Colombus will line up for West Melton on Saturday, playing Hurunui in the 100th Division 1 senior rugby competition, just days before starting 12 months of chemotherapy.

Colombus was first diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in July 2024 after a colonoscopy revealed a growth that had nearly closed his colon.

The cancer has since progressed to stage 4, with new spots recently found on his lungs.

His journey has included a single dose of chemotherapy that put him in hospital for nine days and caused him to lose 12kg in five days, plus five weeks of daily radiation, the removal of about 60cm of his large intestine, and a stoma bag he wore for nine months.

He also underwent cryoablation, a procedure that freezes nodules inside the lungs, becoming the third person in New Zealand and the first in the South Island to receive the treatment.

Through all of it, Colombus has kept working and kept playing rugby.

“Cancer was a thing that was growing in me but it doesn’t have to control my life. I still want to do things and push through.”

That determination showed itself from the moment of his diagnosis. Told on a Thursday after rugby training, he initially told club management he would not play that Saturday. He changed his mind.

“Saturday came around and I thought, I’m playing, I’ve got nothing to lose.”

The 100-game milestone means a great deal to him, and to his children, Levi, 13, and Amelia, 9, who also play for the West Melton club.

“It’s more for my kids than me,” he said. “We will have a celebration and all my friends and family will be there, so it will be a special day.”

West Melton Rugby Club president Gavin Summerfield said the club was looking forward to celebrating Colombus, who will be presented with a blazer at Saturday’s game.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the man and his involvement in the club… Any job that needs to be done he will be the first person to put his hand up.

“It’s not just about him getting to 100, it’s about celebrating a bloody good bugger. He has had his health issues and it’s been his goal for a couple of years now to get to 100.”

Colombus and his wife Eliza are also speaking out about the lack of funded access to the Breakwater chemotherapy regimen in New Zealand.

Colombus carries the BRAF gene mutation, which is present in 14% of bowel cancers and associated with more aggressive disease. The Breakwater regimen is considered the most effective treatment for his cancer type, but it is not funded in New Zealand, leaving the family facing possible costs of $150,000.

It is funded in the United States, highly subsidised in Australia, and accessible in Japan and Italy, among other countries. Because it has not received Medsafe approval in New Zealand, private medical insurance cannot cover it either.

“Watching the person you love face cancer is heartbreaking, but watching them rise above it every single day is deeply inspiring,” Eliza Colombus said. “He does not want anyone else to suffer unnecessarily.”

The couple have also raised concerns about New Zealand’s bowel cancer screening age. Blair was 43 when he was diagnosed - well below the current screening threshold of 58 (soon to be 56).

“Don’t sit on your symptoms — if something feels off, check it out,” Eliza said.

Blair Colombus said his diagnosis only came about by “mistake”.

“I had no symptoms. I came back from holiday with what I thought was a tummy bug. It went on for a month-and-a-half and I went to the doctor. I never go to the doctor, typical male.”

His doctor sent him for a colonoscopy after he mentioned his grandfather died of bowel cancer.

He wanted to share his story to help others. One of his colleagues has now been diagnosed after Colombus urged him to push his doctor for further testing.

“I don’t know what’s ahead, but I’m going to keep on smiling and fighting,” Colombus said. “[Cancer] doesn’t mean your life has to stop.”