Cody Ramsey is back where he belongs. Back after being told he would never play footy again. Back from endless surgeries. Back from a terrifying disease that no one can fully appreciate unless you hear it in his own words.
“Ulcerative colitis is a large bowel disease and it targets your large intestine,” Ramsey said.
“And when we found my diagnosis, it was pretty much burnt bread (dead) the whole bowel, so I had my whole large bowel removed and it left me with a stump that’s connected to your bottom.
“I had a stoma for six months and that’s a bag. I had a stoma reversal, that’s where they connect your small bowel to your large bowel and I guess it’s gravity fed by food, so I had to reintroduce every food I’ve ever eaten back into my new stomach.”
Ramsey was flying high in his third season at the Dragons in 2022 when his life changed forever.
A disease that affects only one in 100 people struck him down, with the emerging talent losing 28 kilos in seven weeks as his life changed forever.
He missed the entire 2023 and 2024 seasons but made an emotional comeback in reserve grade for the Red V last year, before the impossible became possible on Saturday night when he made his NRL return after a 1337-day absence.
“(This was) way better. This means a lot more,” he replied when asked if this felt like a second debut.
“The people around me and everyone at the club know what I’ve been through, so it’s definitely way better than the debut for sure.”
Ramsey wasn’t meant to play on Saturday, but that’s par for the course for someone who was told by his first surgeon that his rugby league was career was over.
But a syndesmosis injury to Mark Nawaqanitawase saw him brought on in the first half against the Broncos, with the emotion of it all hitting home as tears flowed when he reunited with friends and family at full-time.
“You kind of bring yourself back to when it first started and I guess being 62 kilos, and that was when it was the lowest of the low from then on,” he said.
“I always said that I will get back to where I was. And I guess if you see a 62 kilo human being walking around saying he’s going to go play NRL again, it’s very easy not to believe him. But I did, and my family did.
“But at the same time, my family said whatever you want to do, whatever avenue you want to take (we’ll support you). And I could easily not have done it, but I’ve got to live inside my own head for the rest of my life if I I didn’t give it a go.”
Ramsey, 26, will never forget the moment he was told his career was over, but the cruel diagnosis wasn’t going to stop him.
“He (the surgeon) was like ‘you’re going to have to give up football’ as he sat on the side of the bed,” he said.
“And then he left and I said to dad, ‘he doesn’t know what it takes to be an NRL player, but I do’.
“And then I had two surgeries and it was honestly downhill from there.
“The second surgeon, Jonathan Hong up at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, he said ‘take it easy on the Tigers when you get back.’
“He was the one doing my reversal (reattaching the small intestine). So he already had some belief that I was going to do it, and I was always going to try, but he kind of just instilled that.
“He was the one cutting me open, doing the reversals, so it was like, if he thinks I’m going to do it, it’s only up to me. If I can get myself back and myself right and do the right things, then why can’t I do it? Why shouldn’t I do it?”
The reversals were as brutal as they sound, with Ramsey convincing himself early on that it was ‘un-liveable” as he was forced to go to the toilet 40 times a day.
But a 4km run from his place to his dad’s house convinced him he could get back, with Ramsey – stomach wound and all – running along the Appin Highway with his phone in his hand in case he had to call his partner for help.
“I remember one time my stomach was completely split open after I had a reversal, and I was in that much pain and I was telling them to put me in a coma,” Ramsey said.
“I was like, ‘just put me to sleep because I don’t want to (deal with this)‘ and that’s kind of how it went.
“And then you get out, so I checked out of hospital, and I convinced my missus and I said ‘I’m just going to run to dad’s house, and if I don’t do it, I’ll never make it back into football’.
“And I remember running down the Appin Highway. I was 62 kilos, and it took me forever, and it nearly killed me, but once I did it, I was like, ‘I can do it’.
“And then honestly, this condition is all in your head. If you tick these little boxes off in your head (then you can do it).
“For the whole year last year, I felt like I needed to go to the toilet every time I ran. And then I didn’t. And I was like, ‘what’s the worst that’s going to happen to me? I’m going to shit my pants?’ That’s the worst.
“And then I didn’t that one training session. And then I didn’t that week. And then I didn’t that month. And then I get into the game and I didn’t do it. There’s stuff in your head that tells you that you’re not going to do it.”
Ramsey joked that the biggest difference from the initial diagnosis to Saturday night was that he was 10 kilos heavier, with emotions to run high for the next few days as the enormity of his achievement sinks in.
The Roosters have played a part in his recent journey, with skipper James Tedesco thrilled to see his teammate back on the field and likely to get more opportunities with Nawaqanitawase out for 6-8 weeks.
“I think he’s been an 18th man for us since the start of the year and just hearing his story and the journey he’s been on, I think all of us are all just happy to see him get back on the field,” he said.
“He’s been a breath of fresh air coming into the club. His energy, just a great personality and great to have around the club.
“He’s been ready to play since round one and to see him out there back on the field playing first grade was a special moment for all of us.”
