An emotional Cody Ramsey has revealed how a joke from a doctor and brutal four-kilometre road run hours after leaving hospital convinced him he could one day return to the NRL.
Ramsey on Saturday night completed the most inspirational comeback of this decade, overcoming a battle with ulcerative colitis to make it back to the top grade.
Called onto the Sydney Roosters’ wing to replace Mark Nawaqanitawase in the 38-24 win over Brisbane, Ramsey hailed his return as ‘way better’ than any debut.
During an agonising 1337 days between NRL games, the winger spent seven months in a hospital bed, lost 27kg and had to learn to eat again.
He had his large bowel removed, had to go to the toilet 40 times a day, and at one stage feared his health battle had made his life ‘unlivable’.
At times Ramsey asked doctors to put him into an induced coma so he could no longer feel the pain, while also dealing with the risk of life-threatening sepsis infections.
Cody Ramsey (pictured holding the ball) played his first NRL match in 1337 days when he helped the Roosters beat the Broncos on Saturday night
Ramsey (pictured with his partner Tahlia and their daughters) had to have his entire large intestine removed due to an agonising battle with ulcerative colitis
An ever-growing family with his partner Tahlia and rugby league remained a beacon of hope, despite the 26-year-old being told by doctors he would never play again.
But his outlook changed when a surgeon at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse jokingly asked him to go easy on his Wests Tigers upon return.
‘He was the one cutting me open, doing the reversals,’ Ramsey said.
‘So I was like: “If he thinks I’m going to do it, then 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?”
‘If you see a 62kg human being walking around saying he’s going to go play NRL again, it’s very easy not to believe him. But I did. My family did.
‘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 didn’t give it a go.’
Ramsey wasted little time in trying to push his cause, at one point testing himself just hours after leaving hospital from one of several operations.
‘We’d checked out of hospital, and I just said to my missus, I’m just going to run (four kilometres) to Dad’s house,’ the Molong product recalled.
The winger (pictured top in action on Saturday night) spent seven months in a hospital bed, lost 27kg and had to learn to eat again as he fought to return to the field
Ramsey’s nightmare began while he was playing for St George Illawarra (pictured)
‘And if I don’t do it, I’ll never make it back into football.
‘I had a wound on my stomach, my phone in my hand in case something went wrong.
‘I remember as I was running down Dapto Highway, I was 62 kilos. It honestly took me forever. It nearly killed me.
‘But once I’d done it, I was like, I can do it. This condition, it’s so mental. It’s all in your head.’
After noticing something was wrong when he began passing blood on the toilet in 2022, Ramsey first returned to St George Illawarra training in May 2024 and played NSW Cup last year before moving to the Roosters.
Even by the point of Saturday night’s return, Ramsey remains 10kg lighter than his 2020 debut as a 20-year-old at the Dragons.
All the while, he has convinced himself it is a case of mind over matter.
‘For the whole year, I felt like I needed to go to the toilet every time I ran,’ Ramsey said.
‘But I was like, what’s the worst that’s going to happen to me?
‘I’m going to s**t my pants. That’s it, 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. It’s just something in your head that tells you that you’re not going to do it.’
