Veteran horseman Terry Lowe (67) has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. This follows extensive radiation therapy performed at Cape Town’s Groote Schuur hospital and hospitalisation at the Midstream Clinic in Pretoria.
Terry, who has described himself as “having hardy ever had as much as a cold in my life”, suffered a sudden and unexpected seizure in mid-October last year and at first ignored it until another one struck a few weeks later.
Terry Lowe at the 2020 National Two-Year-Old Sales with former jockey, ‘Tickey’ Carr
Terry was booked into Groote Schuur for scanning, three lesions were discovered on his brain and he was given 17 sessions of radiation therapy.
“I felt in perfect health after the seizures and even throughout the radiation sessions and thereafter, which is something that is still puzzling my doctors,” he said.
This week, an MRI test revealed that one tumor had doubled in size between November 2021 and now. Radiotherapy will not eradicate the Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a rare and fast- growing cancer, but will reduce the doubling time.
Terry was a Stipendiary steward between 1975 and 1979 and then trained and bredsuccessfully until 2018. His successes included multiple Gr1’s, Champion 2yo’s,3yo’s and older horses.
He was crowned Highveld Champion Trainer in 1993, runner-up in 1994 and enjoyed a short and successful spell with his top runners in California.
Barend Vorster gets Terry Lowe-trained Polo Classic home ahead of Grand Jete (Karl Neisius). (Pic- Form Organisation)
He trained the 2002 J&B Met winner, Polo Classic. He was consulting to Heversham Park Farm for the last three years.
A proud and modest man, Terry has not once bemoaned his fate or asked for help, but he is in need of financial assistance having depleted his own funds, with no medical aid.
The racing community will know that he suffered a major personal setback earlier in his life – one so desperately sad and unsettlingly tragic that it was never widely reported on.
One senior trainer said this morning: “It baffles me that one man has had to endure what Terry’s been through, in one lifetime.”
Terry remains in good spirits and said on Sunday morning: “I still feel okay, I am just sad for my 11-year-old daughter Jean. This has fallen unfairly into her lap, she’s a mature girl but I worry for her.”
Financial contributions towards the medical costs of Terry Lowe can be made into the Commercial Attorney’s Trust of Snaid and Morris, details below.
Please use the reference
“Terry Lowe”.
All contributions will be acknowledged.
Thank you for your support.
- First National Bank
- Account Type COMMERCIAL ATTORNEYS TRUST
- Name: SNAID AND MORRIS
- Account Number 62892079461
- Branch Code 255955
- Branch Name RANDPARK RIDGE
- Swift Code FIRNZAJJ Date Opened 2021-03-18
