Paul Merson has admitted “being a man” might have left him putting off getting a mole checked before he was diagnosed with skin cancer.
The retired England footballer and Sky Sports pundit delayed a visit to the doctor for months before receiving his diagnosis in 2012. He has admitted to “never” putting on sunscreen during his time as a professional footballer.
“I was at that age where growing up there weren’t a lot of sun creams around, and I’d burn. Then, playing football, I never would because you’d be worried it would get in your eyes,” he said on Good Morning Britain.
“It was strange because it was on my back. Even when I used to go sunbathe, I’d never lay on my front – it was just by walking around.”
The 58-year-old then said he was on holiday with his family when one of his children noticed he was bleeding on his back. However, he “still went home and didn’t do anything about it”. He said: “I don’t know if it was a man thing or I was scared or something like that.”
GMB host Susanna Reid also said Merson had admitted his own “laziness” contributed to delaying the check.
After repeatedly being urged by his doctor to have the mole checked, Merton finally had it cut out but was told soon after he had a melanoma. “I went in the next day and had it cut out and had 50 stitches,” he said.
Over the next five years, Merson had two annual scans and check-ups twice a year, which he called “scary”.
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“I was always going in with that fear of wondering if it had come back and that was horrible then watching other people coming out who hadn’t got that good news.”
He then called the scare something that was “his own fault”.
In 2022, Merson said he had previously been a “sun worshipper” and would “feel better” about himself with a tan. After receiving his diagnosis, he “burst into tears” but was told he was lucky the cancer had not spread.
Merson added: “They were waiting to see if I would have to take tablets or have chemo. They said: ‘Another two or three months, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything.’ And that was just through pure laziness, if I’m being honest.”