How Shannan Ponton discovered son Bronx’s major health scare

Shannan Ponton has detailed the moment he discovered his son Bronx was facing a life threatening condition while filming SAS Australia.

The 46-year-old received a letter from home on-set, containing what many parents would consider their worst nightmare.

‘Mate, I found out later while I was away, on the morning I was driving down to film SAS, my wife found out my youngest son had a bone tumour,’ he told Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa on Wednesday.

‘I was in the car – it makes my blood cold – on the way down and my wife didn’t let on… she held it to herself. 

‘I never knew she had such fortitude. If she had’ve told me I would’ve turned around and driven home.’

Bronx, two, is Shannan’s youngest child with his 49-year-old wife, Kylie Stray.

The pair are also parents to Max, eight, and Mila, six, who arrived after the pair tied the knot in 2010.

Upon being asked by Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald how his son was doing, Shannan said: ‘He’s on a watch and act at the moment, he has to have a repeat X-ray in eight weeks. As it stands at the moment he’s okay.

‘But just to hold that and realise how much she supported me…’ he continued.

And it is not the first health scare the family has faced, with Shannan battling hypothermia during SAS Australia and having a brush with melanoma.

His wife, Kylie, spotted a ‘mole at the top of [his] right leg, just under the crease of [his] bum, which she thought looked bad’ during a holiday.

‘I didn’t give it a second thought but she called my dad and got him to make me an appointment the day we landed,’ he told New Idea. 

His diagnosis is what prompted the former The Biggest Loser star to strip in The All new Monty: Guys & Gals earlier this year.

‘I’m equally as diligent when it comes to all my health checks – uncomfortable or not! It’s my life and I’m determined to preserve it to the best of my abilities,’ he told New Idea in September. 

‘Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to cancer!’