Racing legend Marcos Ambrose opens up on the fight for his life after ‘terminal’ cancer diagnosis

The Supercars great experienced some pain in his shoulder that “didn’t quite feel right” but he at first put it down to “getting a bit old”.

But what happened next would rock him to his core – a routine check-up that in just 12 hours turned into what was initially diagnosed as “terminal” cancer.

As Ambrose opens up for the first time about his secret two-year battle with stage four bowel cancer and the subsequent liver transplant that “saved his life”, Ambrose has implored people to sign up for organ donation and get regular health checks.

The V8 champion and former NASCAR star gave an emotional account of the frightening details behind his health fight after doctors originally diagnosed him with advanced colorectal cancer midway through 2023.

The niggling sore shoulder turned out to be referred pain from secondary cancer in his liver.

Initially told the bowel cancer was inoperable, Ambrose has since undergone 12 months of “heavy-duty” chemotherapy and two major surgeries, including a “risky” full liver transplant.

Not eligible for a liver resection after the cancer had spread throughout the organ, Ambrose underwent the “trial” liver transplant for patients like himself last October after an agonising two-month wait by the phone in Sydney for a donor match.

A year on from his transplant, Ambrose said he had responded well to the high-risk surgery and was “feeling great” but stressed it was still early in his recovery, which was ongoing and would take years on a “lifelong program”.

“You could sit here one-year post (the) risky, major operation and a diagnosis of a terrible cancer and to be here where we are today, it’s just a miracle,” Ambrose said.

“I’m only 12 months post (the transplant) so I don’t want to overstate anything, but everything is going great at the moment.

“I am feeling great. I am living every day as fast as I can and doing as much as I can.

“It’s been a journey for sure, but it’s not about woe. I’m one of the real lucky ones.

“If there’s something that I struggle with, it’s actually guilt – guilt that I’ve been one of the lucky ones.”

THE SHOCK DIAGNOSIS

Ambrose had returned home after a race at Bathurst and was spending some time working in his garden when he felt the twinge of pain.

“I was digging a trench in my backyard and I had a sore shoulder,” Ambrose said.

“I thought, ‘It doesn’t quite feel right’, but I didn’t think much of it. I had just done the Bathurst 6 Hour at Easter ... and I felt a bit tired, but I just thought, ‘I’m getting a bit old’.

“So I went to the doctor for a sore shoulder and within 12 hours I was diagnosed with stage four cancer.”

The initial prognosis was frightening.

The cancer was deemed to be terminal after it had been found late – and it had spread.

“They called it terminal at the time and so we just went straight into panic mode, ‘What do we do now?,” Ambrose said.

“We caught it late because there were no symptoms, no signs. It was stage four colorectal cancer and it had spread.

“(The doctor) said it was so high (in the bowel), you just would never have known.

“The sore shoulder was the inflamed liver that was obviously getting some referred pain in the shoulder.

“I went in for an emergency look to see what was going on and then at that stage it was like ‘Righto, the only place to deal with this is to start doing cancer treatment with chemotherapy to try to hold it back’.

“They deemed it at the time inoperable, so it was sort of like ‘We’ve just got to manage this’.”

‘HEAVY-DUTY CHEMO’

Living in Tasmania at the time, Ambrose started a brutal and rigorous 12-month course of chemotherapy in Launceston.

As gruelling as the chemotherapy was on his body, Ambrose said it was harder on his family having to watch him go through it.

“It was probably worse for my family than me to be honest with you,” Ambrose said.

“When you’re in the grip of it all, you’re pounding your body, you’re giving yourself bad stuff to try and wipe out bad stuff. There is no good answer to all that.

“So it was probably harder for Sonja, my wife, and the kids (Tabitha and Adelaide) to see all that to be honest with you. It was probably harder for them than me.

“They were long days, no doubt. But your brain does incredible things because I’ve been able to put that over there and that was then and here I am now and I’m just going forward.”

The chemotherapy was more successful than Ambrose’s medical team expected, opening the door for surgery to remove the primary cancer.

“I did 12 months of heavy-duty chemo, as much as I could handle, and it went longer and deeper than I ever thought I could go, but the results were really going great, so we just kept going and going and going,” Ambrose said.

“I’m just one of the lucky ones, I guess, that it really worked hard and opened a window for a couple of surgeries to try to get in front of it.

“There was never a chance to eliminate it, you just had to try to get in front of it somehow.

“So it got us into a window where we could deal with it and then I had to have the bowel surgery to remove the primary and get all that dealt with.

“Then if I got through that I went back on the chemo again and it opened this window for a trial organ transplant for people like me.”

‘THE RISKS WERE REALLY HIGH’

Ambrose’s eligibility for an organ transplant was subject to a list of criteria he was fortunate to have met.

“Age being one, good traction being the other with the chemo and it hadn’t spread to other places, I was able to remove the primary (cancer) and call that gone,” Ambrose said.

“So the process there is you need to be accepted onto the list and so I was very fortunate to get put on that list.”

The organ transplant surgery Ambrose required had to be performed at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, so he made the move to the Harbour City and waited for a match.

“I went to Sydney and sat up in Sydney for a couple of months and just waited and was lucky enough to get one,” Ambrose said.

“I basically sat there, played golf or whatever I had to do, walked on the beach and just sat in Sydney – and I had to be within an hour of the hospital just on standby.

“They called about 4pm and said, ‘We think we’ve got one’. But there is no guarantee either, just because you go in there, things can go wrong.

“Then they rang and said ‘It’s probably going to be in the morning’ and then they rang (back) and said ‘No, we want you to come in by 8pm’. So I had about four hours notice.”

Ambrose had all the risks explained to him about the surgery which would ultimately give him another shot at life.

“My life was saved by the grace of somebody else,” Ambrose said.

“I was the third one in Australia to have it done.

“The operation was long, the risks were really high and they explained it to you all.

“The chances of getting through without complications is high. You normally have problems and things you have got to deal with, so it is lifelong, I’m on a lifelong program now.

“It doesn’t stop from the operation, you have got to keep managing your body.”

So far, Ambrose’s recovery has been positive. He was out of the hospital after 14 days and was able to leave Sydney after a month.

He is now living in Melbourne where he is receiving his follow-up treatment.

“I’m still recovering. It’s going to be a while, but … I bounced really well,” Ambrose said.

“I’m now living in Melbourne because I am close to the care (at the Austin Hospital) until things settle down.

“I’m getting constant scans and checks and staying very close with the hospital, staying very close with my medication regime.

“Hopefully after a three-year period is, what they say (when) ... you kind of know ultimately where you’re at.”

‘GO GET CHECKED’

Ambrose had never had a bowel test before owing to his age, but has urged people to make sure they get health checks with their doctor.

“(I was) too young. I was 45 I guess when I got it, 46 diagnosed, the screening starts at 50,” Ambrose said.

“Go get checked. It’s not even about bowel cancer check, just go take your bloods, go get checked, go see your doctor, check everything. I had no idea.”

Ambrose also said he hoped his story would help encourage others to sign up as organ donors after the lifesaving opportunity it granted him.

“If there’s one thing the surgeon said to me … if there’s one thing you can do, it’s donations, so that’s what I’ll talk about,” Ambrose said.

“That was the bit that I really want to express that donating, ticking the box, donate life, it has probably saved my life and it’s a big thing.”

‘INNER PEACE’

As he continues his recovery, Ambrose, who left Supercars at the end of 2005 to carve out a career in NASCAR in the United States, has found a new perspective on life.

He is relishing the time he spends with his daughter, Tabitha, helping cultivate her fledgling racing career in Formula Ford as she follows in his motorsport footsteps.

And guiding Tabitha’s racing career has been equally important to his own recovery as it has for her performances on track.

“My life has certainly changed. I’ve changed perspective on how I look at things,” he said.

“I’ve dedicated this year to help Tabitha and I’ve actually been doing it to help myself, a reason to get up and get going, to push through the tiredness, to push through the problems you’ve got, just to try and get going to do stuff.

“Even the little truck we’ve got, I built that in the gaps of the chemotherapy. The welds aren’t great because I had trouble holding my hand, but I’m just trying to move.

“It’s tough for girls in motorsport there is no doubt, so I worry for her that we are pushing her down a path that’s got pain amongst it all, but she loves it and she loves being around it and it’s been really rewarding to watch that this year.

“But I’ve also done it for myself just to keep busy and just to keep going.”

Ambrose said he had learned a lot about himself during his health battle, but knew there were plenty of others facing similar struggles.

“I found a lot of inner peace, I’ve found a lot of inner self because you go through a huge journey there,” Ambrose said.

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“That’s just my story but everyone has got their own story. That’s one thing I’ve realised is that everybody has got stories to tell.

“I’m not special, I’m not unique, I’m just another person that is going through something or has gone through something.

“Definitely the story I want to share is we have done it tough and everything is going great, I don’t know what’s (coming) tomorrow, but we’re living everyday.”