Jai Arrow has stunned his wife Berina Colakovic by revealing the two things he actually likes about living with motor neurone disease after being diagnosed with the terminal illness earlier this year.
The former South Sydney Rabbitohs forward made the candid admission while appearing on The Montoyas Podcast with his new wife just hours after the couple married.
He and Berina also revealed they are having one of her embryos frozen so their baby girl Ayla can have a biological sibling in the future.
Speaking with hosts Marcelo Montoya from the Canterbury Bulldogs and his wife Tayla, Arrow mixed his trademark humour with brutally honest reflections on life since his diagnosis.
‘So, there’s obviously a lot of bad that comes with MND, but there are two good things, mate. The orgasms,’ he said as his wife and the Montoyas cracked up into shocked laughter.
‘Holy – he went there, son!’ Marcelo laughed.
Jai Arrow (pictured with wife Berina) stunned podcast hosts after revealing two unexpected positives he has found while living with MND
Bulldogs star Marcelo Montoya (pictured left) was left stunned after Jai candidly named orgasms as one positive of living with MND
Arrow and his wife also opened up about freezing one of her embryos so their baby daughter Ayla (pictured with the couple) can have a biological sibling in the future
‘What are we doing? Tayla, Tayla get up!’
Tayla added: ‘Oh my God, that’s so funny!’
‘It’s crazy,’ Jai said, before clarifying that he was referring to his climaxes, not his wife’s.
Switching gears, Jai then revealed the other part of the disease he likes: uncontrollable laughter.
‘It’s called PBA [pseudobulbar affect] – so I laugh at the wrong moments. Oh god. Awkward,’ he said.
Some sufferers experience excessive laughing or crying, or involuntary facial expressions, according to MND Australia.
Berina then revealed Jai even broke into laughter during highly emotional therapy sessions.
‘We were in therapy, couples therapy, and I’m bawling my eyes out in front of this psychologist about him having just received a terminal diagnosis,’ she said.
The former Souths star said he won’t be capable of helping his wife raise a second child due to the effects of MND
Arrow and Colakovic revealed he has been unable to control his laughter, even while she was ‘bawling my eyes out’ during couples therapy
‘Out of nowhere, he just starts laughing his head off. And I was like, “Are you good?”‘
Jai is still laughing about it.
‘Obviously with what’s going on, I’m doing counselling as well, and every now and then she’ll come along. She was bawling – and I start p***ing myself laughing,’ he said.
Berina replied: ‘And we’ll get into an argument, and I’ll explain my feelings, and he’ll start laughing.’
Jai said that laughter has extended into Souths training sessions, much to supercoach Wayne Bennett’s amusement.
‘At the moment, at the club, when the boys are in a meeting and it’s serious, I lose it and I have to run out of the room. Legit. And Wayne laughs,’ he explained.
‘They’re sitting there doing a review, someone’s made a misread [in defence], and I’m laughing. I can’t help it.’
Later in the chat, Colakovic opened up about her desire to have ‘twins’ before detailing the couple’s efforts to have another child.
‘Next week we are going to a fertility clinic to freeze an embryo,’ she said.
‘So hopefully in the future, when we are ready, at least that choice isn’t going to be taken away from us, for Ayla to have a biological sibling.
‘That’s why we’re doing the embryo freezing, because I’m not ready to have another kid right now, because I know it’s going to be all on me.’
Jai added: ‘I needed to know that. I know that [the responsibility of raising another child] won’t be on me.
‘If you [Berina] want to, I’m happy, but you’re going to have to understand I won’t be capable of helping as much.’
Berina also revealed those fits of laughter happened during a recent Bunnies match.
Bunnies captain Cody Walker was sin-binned after kicking Penrith halfback Jack Cogger during the Rabbitohs’ 36-14 loss to the Panthers, with the incident also costing his team a potential try after Dayne Jennings’ four-pointer was disallowed.
The couple are pictured after getting married in a secret ceremony in Sydney earlier this month
The 31-year-old said uncertainty over how much time he has left is one of motor neurone disease’s toughest realities
Arrow also admitted he sometimes bursts into laughter during serious Rabbitohs meetings, leaving Wayne Bennett (pictured) amused
‘I kid you not – he was laughing the whole game,’ she said.
‘I laughed the whole way up,’ he replied, still laughing about it.
Marcelo replied: ‘We’re going to have to get Cody Walker and [his wife] Amy in here next, get their side of the story out.’
Berina said she had already been in contact with Cody’s partner.
‘I texted Amy and was like, “Oh my god, Jai’s laughing – he can’t stop laughing.”
‘But I didn’t know she was unwell that night. She had driven all the way there to watch the game and then had to drive all the way back with the kids – migraine, vomiting. And they just had a little one.’
The conversation then turned to music, with host Tayla Montoya asking the newlyweds which song best represented their relationship.
Jai initially suggested a Shania Twain song before Berina reminded him of the track they had been listening to together.
‘You were playing it the other night and I was like, ‘Oh, that kind of reminds me of us,” Beri said.
Tayla jokingly guessed That Don’t Impress Me Much, prompting Berina to burst into laughter.
‘That’s the one we play after his orgasm. Adam, clip that up,’ she joked, leaving everyone in stitches.
Marcelo Montoya laughed and replied: ‘Very hilarious. That’s unreal. Clip that up.’
Beri then revealed the couple’s actual song was You’re Still the One, adding that the choice was fitting because Shania Twain is Canadian.
Jai couldn’t resist one final joke, asking: ‘Or is there a song called Bat[expletive] Crazy?’
Berina responded: ‘I’m sure Megan Thee Stallion has one, or Nicki Minaj.’
‘Wrong genre, babe. Wrong genre,’ Jai quipped.
The Souths star also revealed his plans to establish his own MND Foundation in the near future, which would unify the three winter football codes.
‘I think down the road as well, we’ve spoken about this, but essentially no one really knows about this, so this is another scoop. Down the road, I would love to open a foundation, and work with the neurological institute where my neurologist works,’ Jai said.
‘But also working with, you know, the NRL. And maybe, essentially, what we could do is: if the AFL, the NRL and rugby union, one week of the year, come together and all three do an MND round, I think that’d be unreal.’
