England cricket star Ben Stokes has arrived back in New Zealand to be with his sick dad Ged, who has revealed he has brain cancer.
Ged Stokes, a former NZ rugby league international, was diagnosed with the illness in January after returning to Christchurch from South Africa, where he was supporting his son.
He had spent five weeks seriously ill in hospital in Johannesburg due to a brain bleed, while England were touring South Africa.
"They had to assess how I travelled and from that they discovered I had a couple of tumours on my brain as well," Stokes senior told NZME.
"So, basically brain cancer. How that came about nobody knows, but obviously I've had a few bangs on my head through my life so that's probably contributed to it."
Earlier this month, Ben Stokes withdrew from England's test series with Pakistan to return to New Zealand and he is currently in managed isolation
"I didn't sleep for a week and my head wasn't really in it," Ben Stokes told NZME. "Leaving [the team] was the right choice from a mental point of view."
