Former long-reigning radio king Ray Hadley has revealed his heartbroken family is in ‘absolute disarray’ after discovering his three-year-old granddaughter Lola is fighting life-threatening cancer.
The veteran broadcaster said the toddler – the second child of his daughter Laura and her husband Brad Clark – was diagnosed with leukaemia last month, just days into the new year.
Although Hadley has dedicated countless hours to helping other sick children throughout his decades-long career, he said nothing prepared him for the heartache of seeing his own grandchild ‘stricken’ with the aggressive blood condition.
‘On the 6th of January this year, my three year old granddaughter Lola was diagnosed with leukaemia,’ he said in a video uploaded on social media.
‘I was on the Gold Coast at the time. I got a call from my daughter Laura…to say that they were at John Hunter Hospital after Lola had become ill and blood tests revealed leukaemia.
‘[We were] in a state of shock – a fit and healthy little girl, beautiful little girl, stricken.
‘After the initial shock of the diagnosis, my daughter, Laura, my son-in-law, Brad, rallied, ably supported by other members of the family.
Recently retired 2GB talkback host Ray Hadley has revealed his entirely family is revealing after his three-year-old granddaughter, Lola Clark, is battling leukaemia (Hadley is pictured holding little Lola)
‘The journey we’ve endured for the last seven weeks has been…in many parts, agonising, and in other parts, enlightening.
‘Enlightening because of the courage and bravery shown by my little granddaughter, Lola, despite [having] lumbar punctures on a regular basis [and] bone marrow biopsies on a regular basis – and that means general aesthetics on a regular basis.
‘She’s been on steroids as well as part of the treatment. She’s put on about five or six kilos in the space of five or six weeks.
‘But she still is determined. She’s still wonderful. She still smiles.
‘In telling you this, I spoke to my daughter, Laura, and my son-in-law, to say that, would they be happy enough for me to go public with it?
‘And my daughter was most supportive, mainly because she wants other people…who are enduring what we’re enduring as a family, [to know]: “You’re not alone”.
‘Over the last decades, I’ve helped many people raise funds for leukaemia – both childhood and adult leukaemia – and there’s a certain level of empathy and sympathy in relation to those people and their family suffering.
‘But it’s not until you’re in the eye of the storm yourself, you realise the implications.
The devastating diagnosis came less than a month after Ray Hadley retired from Nine Radio’s flagship Sydney talkback station, 2GB, after two decades
‘The family is helping out with financial requirements, but there’s still the emotional support that’s required on a daily basis.’
The devastating diagnosis came less than a month after Hadley wrapped up his talkback radio career on December 13 after an almost unbeaten two-decade reign as Sydney’s most popular morning radio host.
At the time, the 70-year-old said he had decided to step away from the microphone to spend more time with his wife, Sophie, four children and seven grandchildren.
While there was nothing to indicate Lola was ill when he made the call, he said he felt fortunate he was now free to pour all his energy into being there for his beloved granddaughter in her time of need.
‘I don’t think I believe in fate … but I think that something must have pre-empted my retirement so that I can do what I’m doing now in relation to my granddaughter and my family,’ he told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph.
‘Because if I was still working, I wouldn’t been able to do it.’
So far that has meant racking up thousands of kilometres during repeated trips from his home just outside Avoca, on the NSW Central Coast, to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle to be by her side.
‘I got a new car, which has done 6000km in six weeks. A lot of travelling up and down the coast,’ he said.
Hadley says he made the call to retire at age 70 so he could spend more time with his wife Sophie (pictured together), four children and seven grandchildren
‘I was with [Lola] yesterday …. and she’s got this thing where she likes to trick me.
‘Her favourite thing is (to say) ‘Poppy, you’ve got a spider in your hair’ and I sort of brush my hair, and I say, ‘Where is it? Where is it? Get the spider out’ and then she laughs.
‘I don’t know how she handles it, she’s only three.
‘We’ve got wonderful, wonderful doctors up at John Hunter, fantastic staff, fantastic nurses – the oncology unit are really good people…and they’re confident of success, but it’s a long journey.
‘It’s 12 months and then possibly two years before we get to the end of this journey.’
It is not only Hadley rallying around young Lola.
He said his entire family was doing whatever they could to help share the heartbreaking load that comes with caring for a sick child.
‘My daughter and son-in-law have three children so their life is in absolute disarray, so the family pitched in,’ he said.
The veteran broadcaster, who spent two decades as Sydney’s most popular morning radio show host, says his retirement has allowed him to focus all his energy on Lola
‘Laura’s mum, Anne Marie, Lola’s grandma, has been phenomenal – she’s there all the time.
‘My daughter-in-law, Cass who lives nearby with my son, Daniel; both of those young people have done Herculean things in relation to supporting [Lola].
‘If you’re confronting the same sort of circumstances with a child in your family who’s ill, my love and best wishes go to you.
‘If you’re a person of faith, I’d ask you to pray for Lola Clark, my granddaughter.
‘If you’re not a person of faith, I’d ask you to pray, in any case, because maybe just somehow we can get to the end of this terrible journey with success.’
Given Hadley has been focussing almost all his attention on Lola’s health battle, the one-time titan of talkback said he had barely had the time to reflect on his career or his successor Mark Levy’s performance since his retirement.
Indeed, the former shock jock said he had rarely even tuned in to the radio since then – instead listening to his favourite country hits on his now routine drives to the hospital.
Hadley says he has barely listened to radio since being replaced by Mark Levy (the pair are pictured together)
However, Hadley said he remained a news tragic and still consumed all the latest local and international news and current affairs first thing each day.
And he said he was surprised to read recent reports suggesting he could already be poised to make an on-air comeback amid speculation his close friend John Singleton might be interested in buying 2GB from its cash-strapped owners, media giant Nine.
The 83-year-old multimillionaire is the man who first brought Hadley to 2GB two decades ago, before selling his 32.2 per cent stake in the Macquarie Media radio network to Nine for $80million in 2019.
At the time, the Nine Radio empire, which also comprises capital city talkback stations 3AW in Melbourne, 4BC in Brisbane and Perth’s 6PR, was valued at more than $275million.
It is now said to be worth less than a tenth of that, with rumours circulating that Singleton could be part of a consortium looking to pick up the struggling radio business for a song – about $20million – and put Hadley back on the airwaves.
‘I was quite stunned to read it, actually, first I knew about it,’ Hadley told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
‘So I rang John Singleton yesterday and said, “Am I making a comeback?” And he laughed and said, “Well no”.’
‘If Singo ever wanted me to do something for him, and no matter what it is, I owe [him] a great deal, I owe my career.’
