Former Australia cricketer Michael Clarke opened up on his long and painful battle with skin cancer and revealed that he has had seven spots cut out from his face as of recent. He further revealed that he has to visit the dermatologist every six months for regular check-ups and proper treatment.
Clarke had announced that the skin cancer was back through a social media post in August. He had had his first skin cancer scare back in 2006 when doctors had found suspicious spots on both his face and chest. Over the years, Clarke has had to undergo regular treatment in order to completely stop cancerous growths from his body.
"I've got a number cut outs of my face. I had one about four weeks ago off my nose. I see my dermatologist every six months. The sunspots I get frozen. Normally, if they're basal cell I get them cut out. I think I've had seven cut out of my face. You can't hide them," Clarke said on The Kyle and Jackie O' show.
Clarke attributed the cancer to the time spent on the field
Earlier in an interview, Clarke had remarked that he isn't surprised that a lot of cricketers have sustained skin cancers before as they have had to play in the scorching sun for hours during games. He also attributed his skin cancer to the long amount of time that he has spent in the sun during many matches.
"I am not surprised that a lot of cricketers have had skin cancers because you spend a lot of time in the sun. Imagine fielding all day in India, out there for eight hours in the sun, a lot of the guys are wearing the baggy green cap so you are not protecting your ears or your face, you've got short sleeved shirts so your arms and the tops of your hands. I have been in the sun my entire career. I've always been disciplined with putting sunscreen on, my parents were too. The part I guess I haven't been disciplined with was reapplying. All through my career I put sunscreen on but you sweat it off," Clarke had told 'Daily Telegraph' in 2023.
Clarke's stellar international career
Meanwhile, Clarkke had nothing short of a fantastic international career as Australia's captain. He featured in a total of in 115 Tests, 245 ODIs, and 34 T20Is and scored over 17,000 runs. He captained the Baggy Greens to the ODI World Cup title in 2015 and his last assignment was the 2015 Ashes series where his team lost to arch-rivals England by 3-2.