Jim defying the odds in brave cancer fight

JIM STYNES has taken a major step towards making what seemed an improbable recovery from cancer by having his last brain tumour removed in Melbourne.

AFL legend Stynes, who was told that he had just nine months to live when the cancer was discovered in July 2009, went under the knife on Thursday knowing he could wake up blind from the latest procedure — but the44-year-old’s sight remains intact.

It was the former All-Ireland minor football-winning Dubliner’s fifth operation in 12 months, and second in eight days, that led to the removal of all 22 tumours detected on his brain and in his stomach.