Pontypool RFC - Ethan Davies Movember 2022.

Hi all,

We are the Pontypool RFC squad for the 2022/23 season.

This November, as a squad, we will be participating in the Movember 2022 challenge to raise money for a cause that is very close to our hearts as a squad, with a member of our current playing squad Ethan Davies being diagnosed with cancer during the summer.

In February 2022, Ethan started experiencing signs of thrombocytopenia (deficiency of platelets in the blood), which doctors assumed was caused by a viral infection at the time. After a short course of medication, it was assumed that the condition was resolved as his platelet count had returned to a healthy level.

The low platelet count resurfaced in June, worse than before, accompanied by a very sore ‘stomach’ after eating, so he was put back on a course of steroids and immunoglobulin, though they had little effect this time.

When presenting at A&E in July and being given a CT scan, doctors realised Ethan’s spleen had enlarged to twice its normal size, and he was admitted for testing to discover a root cause. After various blood and bone marrow tests and further scans, Ethan was diagnosed with the blood cancer Hepatosplenic T cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Delays in receiving the full results of his bone marrow biopsy meant that Ethan had to wait several weeks between the first partial diagnosis and starting treatment. Ethan then started his first round of intensive chemotherapy on 23rd August.

Before signing for Pontypool, Ethan had a very successful stint with the Wales 7s team. Ethan made his debut at Dubai 7s in 2015 and then went on to win 139 Caps on the World Rugby Sevens Series, scoring 524 points over his time with Wales 7s. In 2018, Davies represented Team Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and Wales Sevens at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, California. Further to this, Ethan has also represented Wales Under 20s in the 2014 U20 Six Nations and 2014 Junior World Cup.

Please donate what you can to this great cause. Ethan will then donate the money to DKMS, an international nonprofit charity.

The charity aims to raise awareness of blood cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The charity also helps to educate people about the importance of stem-cell donors for hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.

On behalf of the Pontypool Squad, we thank you for your donations, no matter how little or large they may be.