Golfer Michael Hendry is set to take another key step in his inspirational recovery from leukaemia, using his two daughters as motivation.
The 44-year-old New Zealander will contest the Queensland PGA at Nudgee Golf Club this week after being diagnosed in April and undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy.
This year's Victoria Open winner spent six straight weeks in hospital at the start of his recovery and will play in his first PGA Tour of Australasia event after warming up with events on the Charles Tour in New Zealand.
"When I was lying in a hospital bed I thought that if I have a short time left what do I want to do with that time? It came down to trying to do something inspirational for my kids," Hendry said.
"Getting through the tough times. Getting back out here and being successful and them seeing that it doesn't matter how low you get, you can come out the other side and do things that are pretty special."
Hendry had a great start to the year which included qualification for the Open Championship for a third time after finishing second at the World City Championship on the Asian Tour.
Cancer got in the way of playing at St Andrews but he refuses to be beaten.
"I was having a great year and then the brakes got put on pretty hard," he said.
"It has been an emotional rollercoaster and a really difficult time physically as well but ... have worked really hard fitness-wise, probably harder than my doctors wanted me to but I was hellbent on getting back out here.
"Playing golf is what I want to do. I wasn't going to let the disease dictate to me. I was going to dictate to it."
Hendry said his mental approach to golf, where process is the key, helped him get through cancer.
There is still a road ahead.
"I am in what they call complete remission but the cancer is still detectable in my bone marrow so it will come back," he said.
"When that (will) happen no-one knows so I am in a monitoring phase at the moment. I have to miss the Victorian PGA because I have to go home for a bone marrow biopsy that week and then I will be back for the Australian PGA.
"Depending on how that maintenance phase goes will depend on when I get stem cell transplant which will be the next form of treatment that I will have to go through ... and that will be another three months of hell."
