Former NASCAR and Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose has opened up about his battle with cancer. According to Joshua Mbu of The Express.com, the 49-year-old Aussie racing star survived a deadly form of colorectal cancer. A liver transplant saved his life after doctors said he might not make it. Now, Ambrose is healthy again. He wants to spread the word about organ donation, the gift that gave him a second chance.
Ambrose is known for winning back-to-back NASCAR Cup races at Watkins Glen in 2011 and 2012.
Marcos Ambrose: A Racer in a Tough Battle
Marcos Ambrose first noticed something strange while doing chores at home. “I was digging a trench in my backyard and I had a sore shoulder,” he said. “I thought, ‘It doesn’t quite feel right,’ but I didn’t think much of it.”
A few days later, doctors gave him heartbreaking news. He had colorectal cancer, and it had already spread to his liver. “They called it terminal at the time,” he said. “So we just went straight into panic mode.”
He began strong chemotherapy right away. “I did 12 months of heavy-duty chemo, as much as I could handle,” Ambrose said. “It went longer and deeper than I ever thought I could go.”
The treatment was hard. He was weak, tired, and scared. But he didn’t give up. His family stood by him through it all. Together, they hoped for a miracle.
A Life Saved by a Gift
Doctors later said Ambrose needed a liver transplant. Without it, he wouldn’t survive. It was a risky operation, but it was his only chance. “My life was saved by the grace of somebody else,” he said.
The transplant worked. Slowly, Ambrose began to recover. “To sit here one year after that big operation, after a terrible cancer, and to be here where we are today, it’s just a miracle,” he said.
Today, he feels strong again. He’s grateful to the person who donated their liver. “Someone’s gift gave me a second chance,” Ambrose said. “It’s something I’ll be thankful for every single day.”
As Express.com reported, Ambrose now uses his voice to promote organ donation. He wants people to understand that one small act can save another person’s life.
Living Life Fully Again
Ambrose left full-time racing in 2015 after years in NASCAR and Supercars. He made a short comeback at the 2023 Bathurst 6 Hour.
“My racing career was coming to the point where I needed to come back to Australia for personal reasons,” Ambrose said in an interview with NASCAR.com. “I got out of racing, it was just time for me to stop, really. Raising a family was really important to me, and being a good dad and a good husband.”
He still loves motorsport, but life and family now come first.
“We’ve done it tough,” he said. “Everything is going great. We don’t know what’s happening tomorrow, but we’re living every day.”
His story is about courage, faith, and hope. Even when things looked hopeless, he kept fighting.
Ambrose wants others to remember that miracles are real. They can come from strangers. They can come from love. And they can come when you least expect them.
For Ambrose, life after cancer feels like winning the biggest race of all, the race to live.
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