Ray Hadley, the once-iconic voice of 2GB whose four-decade career transformed Australia’s media landscape, has shifted his focus from new broadcasting ventures to family. Since his retirement last December, Hadley’s personal priorities have taken centre stage following the diagnosis of his three-year-old granddaughter, Lola, with leukaemia.
“Well, when I retired in December, I had plans to do other things this year, not full time, but, you know, I was looking at other adventures, you know, that in broadcasting that I might undertake, but that’s just not even a factor anymore. It’s, you know, it’s all about Lola probably for the next 18 months or two years,’ the 70-year-old told Mediaweek, underscoring the profound impact of this family crisis on his future plans.
Reflecting on his decision to step back from the microphone, Hadley says he believes he made it at exactly the right time. “If I’d been working, well, I don’t think I would have been able to work (given Lola’s diagnosis)”, he said.
“I had been thinking that if I’d gone back to work, as I normally do at the end of January, three weeks after her diagnosis, I just couldn’t have coped. What used to be important things are now unimportant compared to what’s happening to my granddaughter.”
Ray Hadley
Finding out
Describing the early stages of Lola’s treatment, Hadley added, “It’s probably about eight weeks in, and, you know, there’s a shock factor connected for the first, I guess, month or so. And then they get into a routine of chemos on certain days, bone marrows on another day and lumbar punctures on another day. But then you’ve got the unexpected things, because, if, because her immune system is non-existent, if she gets a cold or gets a flu, gets an infection, it’s hospitalisation within 40 minutes. Luckily, they live about 35 minutes from John Hunter, so they have to pack up and head there.”
Laughing Lola
Despite the gravity of the situation, Hadley finds solace in Lola’s resilient spirit. “I call her laughing Lola, because she’s just always, she’s always smiling.”
Reflecting on Lola’s understanding of her treatment, he said, “She’s three, she knows what’s coming. She’s got a port in her chest. She knows when they’re going to give her chemo or take blood. She’s got cannulas. She’s got feeding tubes, she’s got a whole range of things that, even though she’s only three, she’s has figured out that what hurts and what doesn’t hurt.”
Ray Hadley with his daughter, Lola.
Family logistics
Managing the family as a whole has become a central concern for Lola’s parents as they have two other children, a six-year-old and a one-year-old to consider. “So one of them has to stay with those two children unless Laura’s mother, Anne Marie, is available, and she’s doing a pretty good job of being available,” he explained.
Hadley highlighted further challenges: “When they get to the hospital it could be an overnight stay, or, in the case of more recently, could be a week stay. And so then my daughter has to put her job aside and take leave without pay. There’s a financial imposition. Like any young family, they’ve got a mortgage with two incomes to service the mortgage, but there’s only one income there at the moment.”
He noted the adjustments required by his son-in-law as well: “My son-in-law’s got to be very adaptable as to what he does with the job – he works for the council as a project officer, and they’ve been very accommodating of him on what day he can work. What day he can’t work, depending on what hospital visits there are, and usually, when procedures are being done, she wants both of them there.”
Talkback king Ray Hadley has been in the radio industry for 43 years.
Reaching out
Recognising a broader context, Hadley observed, “there are hundreds of children across Australia between very young and teenage years the same sort of illness at the moment, and so we’re conscious they’re not the only ones in this position, and that’s why initially no one knew except the immediate family. But as the word spreads, my daughter said it’s important that other people in our position know that, you know, they’re not alone, and there’s support for them.”
In a final note of family solidarity, he shared, “She”s about to lose her hair. She has beautiful curly hair, and it’s about to come out. Her aunties have made beanies for her. My son and one of my grandsons will cut their hair. So that when we go there we can take the beanie off and say we look the same.”