‘In denial’: Jai Arrow’s wife Berina Colakovic makes sad admission about
As former NRL star Jai Arrow battles Motor Neurone Disease, his wife Berina Colakovic has spoken out about what it is like behind the scenes.
Jai Arrow’s wife, Berina Colakovic, has declared she was “in denial” about the possibility of a Motor Neurone Disease (MND) diagnosis up until it was confirmed in May despite the former NRL star’s visible decline.
In an in-depth chat with Code Sports, Colakovic said she has been putting on a brave face for Arrow and their 15-month-old daughter Ayla since, but the unknown has them “scared”.
“I have moments. I’ll be crying on the way to Ayla’s daycare and thinking, ‘Am I going to be a widow before the age of 40? Is she going to know her dad? Are we going to be able to grow our family?” Colakovic revealed in a raw interview with Code.
I’m scared, to be honest, of the unknown of the future.”
Arrow and Berina, who got married last week, had previously admitted they had deliberately avoided receiving a prognosis, but are fully aware of the battle ahead.
The average life expectancy is 2-3 years from diagnosis, according to MND Australia, but the disease and its progression vary.
Arrow first noticed he was having trouble with his speech late last year but still managed to play all 24 games for South Sydney in the 2025 NRL season.
Throughout the back-end of the season, he battled a troublesome shoulder.
He then began experiencing twitching in his left shoulder, and the symptoms have now progressed to the right side.
However, despite that, Colakovic says she was in denial right up until their worst fears were confirmed.
“I’ve been in denial. The whole time until we got the MND diagnosis in May, I just said, ‘No, no, it’s not that’,” Colakovic said.
The former Rabbitohs star announced his heartbreaking retirement earlier this year following his diagnosis.
The 31-year-old has since been embraced by the NRL community, with Jai July launched by the NRL, in celebration of Arrow and with the aim of providing money for research into MND.
The focal point was the NRL throwing Jai the “biggest birthday party in the world” on Sunday, as the Rabbitohs beat the Knights in a thriller.
In an incredible turn his birthday was also marked by an MND breakthrough, with the University of Queensland (UQ) revealing that they’ve made a promising discovery in the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions like MND.
UQ scientists, along with global experts, uncovered the molecular make-up of a receptor found on the surface of many immune cells called C5aR2.
That finding has allowed them to develop R8Y, a molecule that specifically binds to C5aR.
“With this knowledge, it’s possible we could have an anti-inflammatory drug treatment for testing in MND patients within 5 years, possibly turning the disease into a long-term chronic condition rather than an acute terminal illness,’’ Professor Trent Woodruff said in a statement to UQ.
The drug we developed as part of this study, called R8Y, is a molecule that specifically binds to C5aR2.
“This allowed us to see the structure and function of the receptor which led to the discovery that C5aR2 does not behave like most other receptors.
“It is unable to couple to G proteins — a rare and important distinction which explains why it’s been so difficult to target and why its role in inflammation has been so elusive.
“Using the drug we created, our international partners created a model of the drug bound to the receptor, giving us vital information about how the drug binds to the receptor and how the receptor signals.”
Researchers are now working to develop “even better anti-inflammatory drugs” for tough-to-treat neurodegenerative diseases like MND, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
They are hoping it will be available for testing in MND patients within five years.
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