PARRAMATTA Eels rugby league great Brett Kenny will undergo chemotherapy next week after being diagnosed with cancer.

The 56-year-old underwent scans recently which showed Kenny has lymphoma cancer.

It’s yet another blow for the Kenny family. His stepson, Riley Hilditch is in a wheelchair after shattering his C5 vertebrae when he landed headfirst in a creek at Chittaway Bay on the NSW Central Coast earlier this year.

COMMENT: Why Bert was my Eels hero

media_camera Rugby league great Brett Kenny at the bedside of his stepson Riley Hilditch, 16, who suffered severe spinal damage in an accident.

Kenny and his wife Suzanne held a benefit night for Riley last week, already aware he had been diagnosed with cancer days earlier.

According to friends, Kenny is still undergoing testing and the full extent of the cancer is not yet known.

Kenny played 265 first-grade games for the Eels across 14 seasons, having made his debut in 1980.

media_camera Brett Kenny in action for the Eels in 1982. media_camera Brett Kenny in action for NSW in 1986.

He was part of the Eels team — alongside the likes of Peter Sterling, Michael Cronin and Ray Price — that won four premierships in the 1980s.

A prolifically talented five-eighth and centre, Kenny represented NSW at Origin level on 17 occasions and also played 17 Tests for Australia.