Brad Haddin was never short of a word on the field during his decorated career as Australia's top wicketkeeper-batsman, but he was never one to seek the limelight when it came to matters off the park.

So it was with some hesitance that the 39-year-old, who retired from international cricket last year, produced an autobiography of his life and career, tracking his journey from junior cricket in the small NSW town of Cowra, on to Canberra and ultimately the Baggy Green cap he cherishes so much.

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But My Family's Keeper reflects on Haddin the man as much as the cricketer, detailing the heartbreaking story of his daughter Mia's battle with cancer – every parent's worst nightmare and an illness that very nearly claimed her life.

Haddin and his wife Karina chose to keep Mia's illness, first diagnosed in 2012, behind closed doors during his playing days, with even his teammates unaware of the exact struggle their family has faced in the four years since.

So while reluctant to make a very personal story suddenly very, very public, Haddin took a step back to look at the bigger picture.

"At the start we were really hesitant about doing the book," he told cricket.com.au.

"We're pretty private people and what we're going through with Mia, we tend to deal with those things as a family behind closed doors.

"But talking about the way we wanted the book to be perceived, (we decided) it was really good to do.

"In some way, hopefully it can make it easier for another family, and touch someone who's going through a similar experience and show that they're not alone and make their journey a bit easier.

"I hope it's able to touch people in a way a traditional cricket book won't."

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The opening chapter of My Family's Keeper details how Haddin, answering a 6.30am phone call from Karina while he was on tour in the West Indies, first learned that his 16-month-old daughter was sick.

The very first line of the book – "Is she going to die? Is Mia going to die?" – paves the way for the raw and emotional tale that's to come, starting with Haddin's mad dash home from the tiny Caribbean island of St Vincent, via Barbados, London and Singapore, an exhaustive journey that takes days in real time but felt like an eternity given what was waiting for him at Sydney's Westmead Children's Hospital.

From there, every step of treatment over four years since and every setback – of which there are many, including a life-saving procedure shortly after her diagnosis – is explained in detail, as is his decision to eventually return to the game he's dedicated his life to.

It's a journey no parent wants to experience, and Haddin says it was no easy task re-living it.

"It's been hard for us to read," he says. "It brings up the good and the bad.

"But with Mia, she doesn't remember a lot of what happened for the first few months of her treatment. So it's an opportunity for her when she gets older to help explain to her what she went through and what the family and other boys went through.

"(Youngest son) Hugo was born halfway through the middle of it so he doesn't really understand what happened to Mia.

"So I think as time goes on it'll be a really good tool for Mia to read, so we're very proud of it."

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Haddin also explains in detail the circumstances surrounding his absence from the 2015 Lord's Test, which came about after Mia fell ill on the final day of the first Test in Cardiff, which turned out to be his last.

Haddin writes that when the unnamed partner of another player, "operating on a thought process I can't even guess at", relayed the news to team manager Gavin Dovey – before Karina had told her husband – word spread around the playing group and created "exactly the situation I wanted to avoid: other people wanting to make decisions for us".

Having carefully kept Mia's battle mostly private over the years, Haddin says when it became clear to him in the days leading up to the Lord's Test that her situation could become a distraction for the team, he decided to withdraw from the match.

"The reality was that Karina and I had things under control, just as we had done for more than two years, and what happened next should have been purely up to us as a family," he writes.

"But as soon as other people got involved I knew my playing future was in the balance.

"I told them (selector Rod Marsh and coach/selector Darren Lehmann) I had to make myself unavailable for the Second Test and explained why.

"Rod said immediately, 'I fully understand', but Darren's reaction was a bit odd, I think because he was taken by surprise.

"He said, 'Do you want to play for Australia still? I said, 'Yeah, a hundred per cent. But right now my daughter's sick."

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A week later, with Mia on her way home to Australia for further treatment and Haddin available for selection again, he was overlooked on form for the third Test, and he knew his 14-year international career was over.

He says he holds no grudges for the premature end to his time as an Australian cricketer, having managed just one half-century in 21 Test innings since his memorable Ashes campaign in 2013-14.

And after a career that included 66 Tests, 126 ODIs, an Ashes whitewash and a World Cup triumph, one fact stands out above the rest.

"Mia's good, she's just a normal six-year-old now," he says.

"The treatment has gone to plan, she's cancer free and is enjoying as normal a life as she can.

"She's enjoying school, she enjoys swimming and reading books and just living a normal life.

"There'll be (hard) days moving forward, but we've just got to take it for what it is ... everything is going in the right direction at the moment."

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