Roughie tackles his fear
JARRYD Roughead has spoken of his fear after the discovery of cancer on his lip.
Roughhead, 28, had surgery last Wednesday to remove a melanoma — a discovery he described yesterday as a “massive shock”.
Follow-up tests have been positive, and the Hawthorn star was to have one more examination yesterday. If he receives more good news, it is believed that playing against Sydney in Round 16 is realistic.
“It wasn’t nice,” Roughead said. “When I first went in there they said I probably didn’t have anything to worry about — but when he mentioned it was a melanoma you get a little scared and when the doctors say they want to operate the next day you put life on hold for a second.
“I had a little spot there for about five months and it just wasn’t healing. I’d seen a dermatologist in January and one thing that stuck in my mind was, he said, ‘If something isn’t healing and it keeps reappearing make sure you come back and see me quick.’
“I went in the Friday before the Essendon game and the result came back last Tuesday, which forced me into surgery last Wednesday and it’s been pretty quick from there.”
The 2013 Coleman Medallist told Gold 104.3 he was on a liquid diet and had developed a good poker face after surgery.
“I’m not eating the best — I’m on the soup,” he said.
“They took a fair chunk out of my bottom lip so I can’t open my mouth as wide as I used to and that will come with recovery of the mouth and lip stretching.
“It’s not great with the smiling and not great with the eating, but hopefully it’s not too long before I’m back doing both of those things.”
Roughead is one of the most sun-smart players at Hawthorn, regularly wearing a hat and sunscreen at training.
“The amount of effort I go to to protect myself from the sun, it’s not nice when you get news like that, but it just shows even though you put so much effort in, this can still happen,” he said. “You’ve got to understand that with red hair and fair skin you’re not going to walk around with a nice tan.”
Roughead, who returned to the club on Monday in good spirits, will travel with teammates to Launceston for Sunday’s clash against Fremantle.
“Playing, I’m not sure,” he said. “It’s just a matter of feeling comfortable with what’s happened. You don’t want to cop a knock and it splits open again. I’ve got one more test today . . . and it will be pretty much full-on from there.”